D’Angelo preps long-delayed new album ‘Black Messiah’

After nearly a decade and a half, the R&B singer and multi-instrumentalist D’Angelo has finally announced a follow-up to his 2000 landmark LP “Voodoo.”

The new album, titled “Black Messiah,” will debut Sunday at a listening session in New York City hosted by the author Nelson George. No public release date for the LP has been set yet.

D’Angelo’s manager, Kevin Liles, first tipped the existence of the new LP with a 15- second video trailer. The clip features a few seconds of a drumbeat and a volatile spoken-word performance, but it’s uncertain if either is part of new music from the LP.

The black-and-white video shows ambient footage of dancing and raised hands at what looks like a rally or a concert. It signals a politically charged direction for D’Angelo’s LP, especially in the wake of multiple shootings of unarmed black men by police officers -- and a subsequent lack of indictments -- in recent months.

Posters for the LP have reportedly begun showing up in Brooklyn, featuring a stark selection of angry text that reads like song lyrics: “All we wanted was a chance to talk / ‘Stead we only got outlined in chalk.” The posters also include a “2014” date, which implies an album could arrive on any day of the waning year.

The singer returned from a long and difficult hiatus to play several high-profile shows, including a joint tour with Mary J. Blige. He has a slate of European dates, under the banner of “The Second Coming Tour” slated for early next year.

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