Mustafa – When Smoke Rises LP (Ltd Green Vinyl)

When Smoke Rises is the debut project from Toronto-based poet and singer-songwriter Mustafa. Writing in the aftermath of losing several friends to gun violence, Mustafa has sewn these departures – and his attempts to cope with them – into song, immortalizing friends in the most honest way he knows how: through his interpretation of folk music. The project features production from heavy-hitters Frank Dukes and Jamie xx, as well as contributions from Sampha and James Blake. GQ calls it “an impossibly personal collection of songs as heartbreaking as they are beautiful.”