Daley returns September 18 with the album Strange Nature

Daley has announced Strange Nature, a ten-track album out globally on Friday September 18 through SRG-ILS, the Virgin Music and UMG imprint. Pre-orders open on September 4, and a 27-city US tour under the same name starts on September 16 in St. Louis.

The record arrives after a long stretch of change for the singer, taking in the pandemic, the death of his father and an industry that reshaped itself around him in the meantime. Marsha Ambrosius, Robert Glasper, Keyon Harrold and Yussef Dayes all appear on it.

The title came out of that period rather than in spite of it. "Naming the album STRANGE NATURE was an acknowledgment for me that life does not always unfold in ways we can predict, hope, or expect," Daley said, adding that he had wanted a title about growth but knew that was only half the truth of it.

He set the era going in the spring with "LAVENDER", his first official release since 2018, written and produced with the UK producer Swindle and carrying jazz-inflected guitar from Tom Ford. The summer follow-up "SLIDE" went in the other direction, a future-throwback groove with orchestral strings under it.

The ten songs move between heartbreak, temptation and manifestation. "EASY", which Daley calls a compassionately cut-throat breakup song, was co-written in London with Ryan Ashley and carries piano arrangements by Darryl Woodson and strings by Izzi Dunn and Neil Waters. "COMPASS" came out of a studio session with Glasper at the piano, later filled out by Aliyah Niambi and Justin Tyson.

Daley credited friends, fans and supporters with getting him through the harder stretches of finishing it, saying their encouragement pushed him to make the best album of his career. The record sits in the R&B and soul tradition Glasper has spent years pulling in other directions, including through the Dinner Party project's recent short set of songs, and the September date is on the release calendar.