Bright Shiny Things Releases Grammy® Winner Alexander Lloyd Blake's Songs of Remembering, Centered on Running From, Running To, Honoring Ahmaud Arbery

BRIGHT SHINY THINGS RELEASES GRAMMY® WINNER ALEXANDER LLOYD BLAKE’S SONGS OF REMEMBERING, CENTERED ON RUNNING FROM, RUNNING TO, HONORING AHMAUD ARBERY

Featuring Tonality, Wild Up and soloists Angel Blue, Jamal M. Moore, and Ogi

“… a powerful meditation on remembrance and justice.”
– Los Angeles Times on Running From, Running To

“… rainbow coloration and delicate shading …”
San Francisco Classical Voice on Tonality

NEW YORK, NY–On February 27, 2026, Bright Shiny Things releases Songs of Remembering: In Memory of Ahmaud “Quez” Arbery [BSTD-0223], an album of original choral compositions sung by Grammy-winning Los Angeles-based chorus Tonality. The album centers on Tonality Founding Artistic Director Alexander Lloyd Blake’s Running From, Running To for chorus, soloists, and orchestra, an eight-part suite reflecting on the life and death of Ahmaud Arbery, the young Black man whose 2020 killing while jogging sparked a national outcry. Tonality is joined on the album by Los Angeles’s Wild Up ensemble and soloists Angel Blue, Jamal M. Moore, and Ogi, the latter of whom also co-wrote Running From, Running To with Blake. Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, contributes spoken texts to one movement of the work and provided information that helped shape others. Also included on the album are new arrangements by Blake of “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” and “Deep River,” the latter heard in its world-premiere recording. Songs of Remembering: In Memory of Ahmaud “Quez” Arbery is available for pre-order here: https://www.brightshiny.ninja/songs-of-remembering

Alexander Lloyd Blake premiered his choral suite Running From, Running To: A Musical Reflection on Ahmaud Arbery in 2025 in Los Angeles. The project exemplifies Blake’s vision for music as a tool for social healing, and his commitment to uplifting stories of dignity, loss, and transformation through the human voice. The 30-minute composition is complemented on Songs of Remembering by two spiritual arrangements by Blake reinforcing the album’s message: “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” and “Deep River.” In the liner notes, Blake describes the project as “my way of remembering, grieving, and envisioning healing together.”

The eight parts of Running From, Running To trace an emotional arc moving from celebrating Arbery’s individuality to attempting to understand the forces that led to his murder to a choral protest demanding justice. The music – which amalgamates classical, jazz, and R&B styles – is woven with spoken contributions from Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, who after the killing channeled her grief into creating the Ahmaud Arbery Foundation, which champions mental health awareness and provides scholarships and youth development camps for young Black men. Soprano Angel Blue gives voice to Cooper-Jones in the opening movement and in the beautiful closing, “Running Free,” as she imagines Arbery at peace, while Cooper-Jones’s own voice creates a bridge from the title movement, “Running From, Running To,” to the collective call for justice “No More!” Jamal M. Moore gives voice to Arbery himself in “Life Defined,” “Oak and Pine Trees,” and “The Incident,” an unflinching portrayal of the racist suspicion and dehumanization that led to his murder. At the same time, Moore fulfills the crucial role of honoring the richness of Arbery’s life, the hopes and dreams that defined him so much more importantly than his brutal end. Soloist and co-writer Ogi voices the cry of protest that is not only central to the suite but appears again in a stripped-down, a cappella version to close out the album. 

TRACK LIST

Music and text by Alexander Lloyd Blake 
Co-written with Ogi
Additional Music by: Charlie Coffeen, Thomas Kotcheff, Jonathan Bartz, and Clark Rhee

Running From, Running To: A Musical Reflection on Ahmaud Arbery
1 I. Who Was Ahmaud? 4:05
2 II. Life Defined 1:57
3 III. Oak and Pine Trees 4:58
4 IV. Satilla Shores 3:06
5 V. The Incident 3:10
6 VI. Running From, Running To 5:38
7 VII. No More! 3:58
8 VIII. Running Free 5:01

9 Deep River (arr. Alexander Lloyd Blake) 3:42

10 Poor Wayfaring Stranger (arr. Alexander Lloyd Blake) 4:13

11 No More! (a cappella) from Running From, Running To:
A Musical Reflection on Ahmaud Arbery 3:46

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Tonality is a GRAMMY® Award-winning ensemble, established in 2016, known for “open-hearted singing.” Tonality was recognized as a 2024 GRAMMY® winner in New Age, Ambient or Chant Album for Carla Patullo's “So She Howls” with the Scorchio Quartet. Executive and Founding Artistic Director Dr. Alexander Lloyd Blake imagined Tonality as an ensemble that represents the diverse cultures and ethnicities within the Los Angeles area. Within a year of its forming, Tonality’s mission evolved to use its collective voices to inspire, innovate and spark social change through the power of diversity. The group premiered its first album in 2019, titled “Sing About It.” Tonality received the 2020 Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, a prize given for commitment to singing and commissioning new works. Tonality has collaborated with choral and film composers to create the works presented in concert, striving for diverse voices and perspectives within the composer community. Collaborators include Joe Trapanese, Roman Gianarthur, Gaayatri Kaundinya, Reena Esmail, Shawn Kirchner, Zanaida Robles, Moira Smiley, Alex Wurman, Kris Bowers and Michael J. Giacchino. Tonality has performed with MacArthur Fellow Taylor Mac, Pete Townshend of The Who, pianist Lara Downes, internationally acclaimed performer Björk, Dutch DJ Tiësto, Kelly Clarkson in support of her album “Chemistry,” and Scott Hoying (Pentatonix) on his single, “Rose Without the Thorns,” for which Blake received a 2025 GRAMMY® nomination for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella.

Dr. Alexander Lloyd Blake is a conductor, composer/arranger, vocal contractor, and music activist whose work bridges classical performance, commercial media, and socially engaged art. He is the Founding Artistic Director of Tonality, the GRAMMY® Award–winning choral ensemble recognized for using music to inspire collective action and foster human connection through culturally diverse storytelling. A trusted collaborator across film, television, and advertising, Blake is known for his vocal leadership, arranging expertise, and ability to bring sonic cohesion to creative projects. His credits as conductor, vocal contractor, and vocal arranger include Respect, Spiderhead (Netflix), and Space Jam: A New Legacy (Warner Bros.). He has worked on episodic series such as The Other Black Girl (Hulu), Young Love (Max), America the Beautiful (Disney ), The Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO), and The G Word with Adam Conover (Netflix). As a studio vocalist, he appears on the soundtracks of Us, The Lion King, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. He performed at the 92nd Academy Awards with Cynthia Erivo and prepared singers for the 2020 GRAMMY Awards. In May 2025, Blake premiered his 30-minute choral suite Running From, Running To: A Musical Reflection on Ahmaud Arbery at the Wallis Annenberg Center. The Los Angeles Times praised it as “a powerful meditation on remembrance and justice,” and Ahmaud Arbery’s mother described it as “beautiful… I wish I could play it over and over again.” Blake’s arrangements are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Alliance Music Publishing, and Walton Music. He earned a GRAMMY® nomination for his work on Scott Hoying’s “Rose Without the Thorns,” and his concert and broadcast projects include music for the MLB All-Star Game, Kelly Clarkson’s Chemistry flash mob, and GAP’s #GiveYourGift campaign.

Called “a raucous, grungy, irresistibly exuberant…fun-loving, exceptionally virtuosic family” (New York Times), Wild Up has been lauded as one of new music’s most exciting groups by virtually every significant institution and critic within earshot. Artistic Director Christopher Rountree founded the orchestral collective in 2010 to challenge traditional concert practices by experimenting with diverse methodologies, approaches, and contexts. After a decade and a half of rampant creativity and curiosity, Wild Up is the ambassador of West Coast music. The group has collaborated with a wide range of composers, performers, and cultural institutions, premiering and creating several hundred new works. We partnered with the LA Phil and REDCAT to present a two-month long festival and gallery exhibition “To The Fullest: The Music of Arthur Russell and Julius Eastman,” accompanied Björk at Goldenvoice’s FYF Fest, sang into a Picasso with Pamela Z at LACMA, and created Democracy Sessions—playing against growing autocracy with Raven Chacon, Ted Hearne, Chana Porter, Ursula K. LeGuin, Harmony Holiday, Saul Williams, and Karlheinz Stockhausen at MOCA. We premiered David Lang and Mark Dion’s Anatomy Theater at LA Opera, often collaborated with the Martha Graham Dance Company, and performed scores for Under the Skin by Mica Levi and Punch-Drunk Love by Jon Brion at the Regent Theater and Ace Hotel. We were booed out of Toronto for playing a piece too quietly. Wild Up premiered a new opera by Julia Holter at National Sawdust, debuted an avant-pop work by Scott Walker at Walt Disney Concert Hall, sustained 12 hours of Ragnar Kjartansson’s Bliss at REDCAT, and championed Julius Eastman’s music worldwide. We blared a noise concert as fanfare for the groundbreaking of Frank Gehry’s building on Grand Avenue and First Street. The group has been lavished with praise by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, NPR, Pitchfork, and many more publications and critics.

Angel Blue is one of the most distinguished sopranos of her generation, admired for the radiant beauty of her voice and the expressive depth of her artistry. A two-time Grammy Award winner, recipient of the Beverly Sills Award, the Richard Tucker Award, and the 2022 Wharton Arts Center Lifetime Achievement Award, she is celebrated worldwide for honeyed toned voice and genuinely kind disposition. Her signature roles include the title parts in Aida and Tosca, Violetta in La Traviata, Bess in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Mimì in La bohème, and Liù in Turandot. Ms. Blue has appeared at many of the world’s leading opera houses, among them the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro alla Scala, Vienna State Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. Equally at home on the concert stage, she has collaborated with major orchestras and conductors in performances spanning symphonic, pops concerts, and recital repertoire across more than forty countries. Praised for the warmth, generosity, and sincerity she brings to every collaboration, Angel Blue received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Redlands in 2025. Raised in California, she now resides on the east coast of the United States, where she continues to champion artistic excellence and mentorship in music. 

Ogiuzo Ifediora, or better known as Ogi, is a singer/songwriter and vocal producer based in Los Angeles, CA. Raised in a Nigerian household, she was convinced of her future as a lawyer and attended Northwestern University for Political Science and Legal Studies. In her senior year, however, she was discovered by legendary producer No ID, who convinced her to pursue music. After she graduated, she moved to LA and later released her debut EP, “Monologues,” executive produced by No ID and licensed with Atlantic Records. Since then, Ogi has performed her music around the world, most notably at the BET Awards, SummerStage, Outside Lands, Pharrell’s “Something in the Water”, and the Hollywood Bowl. Ogi has opened for Paramore, the Marias, Snoh Aalegra, Masego, Mahalia, and Santigold. Her music can be heard on “And Just Like That,” “Reasonable Doubt,” and “The Irrational.”

Jamal M. Moore is an internationally acclaimed singer, songwriter, and recording artist celebrated for his captivating vocal versatility and unique artistry. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Moore's classical training underpins a dynamic style that blends classical, pop, gospel, and jazz. He has performed on prestigious stages worldwide, including Carnegie Hall and the Oscars. Moore has collaborated with iconic artists like Beyoncé, contributing to her GRAMMY-winning album 'Cowboy Carter' and performing at Coachella. His recent highlights include providing support vocals for Raye at the GRAMMY Awards, participating in the 'Defying Gravity' performance at the Oscars, and serving as a featured soloist with Christopher Tin at the Open To The World music festival in Vilnius. Beyond live performances, Moore has lent his voice to film and television projects such as the DreamWorks animated series "Trolls" and Beyoncé's documentaries "Homecoming" and "Black is King." As a member of the vocal quintet The Exchange, he toured over 50 countries as an official Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. State Department. A prolific songwriter, Moore was a Grand Prize Finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. His albums "Love Letters Vol. 1" and "Vol. 2" showcase his genre-blending talents through a mix of covers and original compositions. His upcoming 2025 record is anticipated to further exemplify his genre-defying artistry.