Saul Williams Announces First Solo Album in Seven Years, Leaf Life

Two decades after his early solo recordings introduced him through Big Dada, Saul Williams is back on the label with Leaf Life. It’s his first solo full-length since 2019’s Encrypted & Vulnerable, and it arrives August 28. The announcement follows a stretch of diverse activity: a role as a preacher in the film Sinners, and a Grammy-nominated collaborative album with Carlos Niño, who returns here as producer.

The tracklist and credits suggest a wide circle of collaborators. Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack appears, alongside Kamasi Washington, Moor Mother, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Surya Botofasina, among others. Moor Mother and Gonjasufi both feature on the lead single, “Conspiracy,” a track driven by fractured rhythms and overlapping voices. A video directed by Cleon Arrey accompanies it.

Williams has rarely sounded settled, and Leaf Life reads less like a homecoming than a continuation on his own terms. The return to Big Dada—the Ninja Tune offshoot that released his early solo work—feels pointed without being nostalgic. A label that gave space to his hybrid of poetry, electronics, and agitation in the late ’90s now frames his most collaborative project yet.