Los Angeles brothers Aaron and Lawrence Shaw, performing as Black Nile, have dropped “Skyrim,” the latest single from their forthcoming album ‘Indigo Garden’, arriving April 10 on MASS MoCA Records. The track is a full-on jazz love letter to the seminal video game, and it makes complete sense coming from two musicians who grew up in Inglewood absorbing everything from RuneScape soundtracks to the city’s red-hot jazz scene. Lawrence Shaw explains the connection directly: “Video game music is huge. It’s huge in the way that the game is shaped, in the way that it’s felt. You wouldn’t have a smooth jazz track on Skyrim. It’s just not the vibe.”
Both GRAMMY-nominated artists, Aaron and Lawrence Shaw came up rubbing shoulders with Kamasi Washington and Thundercat while building careers that took them across the full spectrum of modern music. Aaron’s saxophone work has appeared alongside Saul Williams and Carlos Niño, he has played with Tyler The Creator and Herbie Hancock, and gave André 3000 flute lessons. Lawrence has held down bass for John Legend, Booker T., Aminé, Nubya Garcia, and Raphael Saadiq, and is currently touring with Andy Grammar. Black Nile was born from their shared desire to pull jazz into a new century, adopting sampling and modern production techniques absorbed from hip-hop to create something combustible and completely their own.
‘Indigo Garden’ was recorded at Studio 9 in North Adams, MA and Harlan Steinberger’s Hen House Studios in Venice Beach, CA, with Steinberger producing. The album features cover art from renowned conceptual artist Charles Gaines and brings in keyboardists Luca Mendoza and Brian Hargrove alongside drummer Myles Martin. Invited as artists in residence at MASS MoCA in 2025, Black Nile has built an album that is equal parts homage to their LA roots and a bold step forward for the city’s jazz tradition.
For Black Nile, Los Angeles has always been a city of improvisation, fresh ideas, and jazz, and ‘Indigo Garden’ proves exactly that. April 10 cannot come soon enough.