Alabaster DePlume Dear Children of Our Children, I Knew / Cremisan

Dear Children of Our Children, I Knew is a new EP recorded by Alabaster DePlume in the middle of his March 2025 US tour. DePlume had been playing shows with bassist Shahzad Ishmaeli and drummer Tcheser Holmes, performing music of his critically-acclaimed album A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole (released March 2025). The trio's rapport was so strong that DePlume chose to use an off day in Brooklyn to record this collection of instrumentals, which were inspired by experiences he had sharing, performing and improvising off the music of A Blade for audiences across the US. Dear Children in a sense serves as an epilogue to A Blade, which makes it all the more appropriate that the B side of its RSD-exclusive vinyl release contains the three song EP Cremisan: Prologue to A Blade, which was released (digital only) in fall 2024. As with almost everything that DePlume has put forth in recent years, the connection of this work to Palestine is deep: the Cremisan EP itself was recorded in Palestine; Dear Children includes samples of children recorded in Bethlehem; and the album's cover art depicts wheatpaste posters of a drawing made by a 13 year old boy from Gaza (used with permission).