Black Thunder is the dazzling, fully improvised, fully realized new album by Seattle-based musician, producer, and engineer Brittany Davis. Featuring the artist on keys and vocals, Evan Flory-Barnes on bass, and D’Vonne Lewis on drums, the Josh Evans-produced offering recalls artists like Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk in its immersive, incantatory spirit.

The trio — who barely knew each other previously — extemporized Black Thunder in a surge of interactive creativity across two days in the studio. The pressure-cooker environment did away with overthinking and brought each musician’s A-game. Steeped in Black and Afrocentric cultural influences, this is Davis’s most poignant and cathartic work to date.