Writer, playwright, and Lincoln Center’s first poet in residence Mahogany L. Browne, and jazz pianist, composer, and producer Sean Mason have released CHROME VALLEY, a genre traversing album and music essay on the Black experience in America. Inspired by Browne’s most recent critically acclaimed poetry anthology by the same name, CHROME VALLEY marks the debut album for project-based, community-centered record label The Soapbox Presents.

Across the 10-song tracklist, CHROME VALLEY grapples with the most potent social justice issues in the collective American consciousness. “Working Title” recalls the civil unrest in Ferguson following the murder of Michael Brown by Police. “Trivia” questions, “What is luck to a Black body [...] What is a bullet, What is a new and improved lynching?”

The project is Black culture manifest; not just the pain and trauma, but everything that it means to walk the streets as a Black woman in America. "If We Praise (We Are Beautiful)" rebelliously rejoices, celebrating both joy and sorrow in daily experience. "Kerosene Litany” reflects on gentrification, social programs, and the ancestral soul.

CHROME VALLEY, the first collaboration between the pair, borrows from multiple musical heritages: spoken word, jazz, R&B, gospel, and is rooted in the blues, but not in a predictable way. “This whole album is about avoiding stereotypes. Too often, we as Black people are subjected to the blues

offering that we bring to music. So, I wanted to keep the integrity of the blues but remove the stereotype that all we can do is wail and sing our blues,” says Mason.

CHROME VALLEY came to fruition after Browne witnessed Mason playing a detuned piano at The Seashore Farmers’ Lodge, a museum in Charleston, South Carolina, that holds Gullah Geechee artifacts. At the time, Browne was putting the finishing touches on her eponymous poetry book. Months later, Browne commissioned Mason to compose music for a live multisensorial performance piece produced by The Soapbox Presents, which was featured as a part of Lincoln Center’s inaugural poetry residency. Following the performance, Browne and Mason decided that the healing power of the words and music had to live beyond the confines of the moment. Mason spent the next months furthering the piece and the duo, supported by an ensemble and took to the studio to record the album in June 2023. Full recording credits can be found below.

When asked to compose his response to Browne’s poems, Mason chose not to take the literal approach of underscoring recitation on every track, “My task was to honor every word Mahogany wrote, ensuring each word was sung. The composition process felt like assembling a musical puzzle, reorganizing words into lyrics and song forms without knowing the final picture. Upon completion, I was filled with gratitude, not only because the puzzle was complete but because the ‘image’ revealed itself, and I stood in awe of its beauty.”

When asked what she hopes people will take away from the album, Browne’s response is, “I want people to get FREE.” CHROME VALLEY explores what it means to grow knowing the warmth of home and to confront the threat of existing outside of it.