Mourning [A] BLKstarFlowers For The LivingDon Giovanni DL/LPOn first listening, the striking eighth album from seven piece Ohio collective Mourning [A] BLKstar boasts a palpable sense of its own significance. Rather, it radiates a dark textured gravitas, a sensorial weightiness, illuminated at times by an ebullient sense of its own place within a Black radical tradition. The dynamics of the resulting album, with its mix of mourning and hope, melancholy and joy, are perhaps best conveyed in the standout opening track “Stop Lion 2”. On the title track, lilting vocals, flowing over mid-tempo rhythms, propose ways to strengthen ties and nurture personal relationships amid environmental crises. This review appears in The Wire 497 along with many other reviews of new and recent records, books, films, festivals and more.