Temporary

Richard Russell has introduced the world to several generation’s worth of era-defining musicians. But since 2017, the XL Recordings founder has used the Everything Is Recorded project to prove he’s not merely a visionary record producer, or the founder of the most consequential independent record label of the past 35 years. He’s a visionary artist in his own right, with a temperament so generous that his records are filled with the voices of the artists he’s encouraged, shepherded, or spotlit along the way.

Everything Is Recorded albums are feasts of collaboration, and his soul-enriching new album, Temporary, is no exception. The guest list overflows with incandescent talent: Florence Welch, Sampha, Bill Callahan, Jah Wobble, Kamasi Washington, Nourished by Time, Alabaster DePlume, Noah Cyrus. The silvery thread linking all these voices together is, of course, Richard Russell himself, by design the least visible member of Everything Is Recorded, but the only one who could have dreamed up this expanse to begin with.