02/25/2026
Announcing ‘Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace,’ a new album from musician, activist, and former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, out April 24 on CD, LP, and digital formats. Today you can hear the title track, which opens the album in a suspended, otherworldly space.
On ‘Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace,’ Harjo treads the fertile ground at the intersection of jazz and poetry, leaning into the improvisational aspects of both while incorporating other sonic touchstones from throughout her life: prog rock, grunge, and, crucially, the traditional music of Native communities throughout the Southwest. At once playful, confrontational, and devotional, the album arrives shaped by collective upheaval, ancestral memory, and the enduring power of art to bear witness and create change. The album was produced by composer, bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, and features guitarist Matthew Stevens and drummer Justin Tyson.
“This musical project has found its footing during a time of thick-layered turmoil throughout our communities,’” Harjo writes in the extensive liner notes. Reflecting on what we can show future generations when they look back to see how we responded when confronted with injustice, Harjo remarks: “They will look to our arts.” In this way, “this album is an offering.”
Listen to the first single and preorder ‘Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace,’ which also features Harjo’s first original painting in years in its packaging and cover art, here: orcd.co/joy-harjo
