A new six-song EP from the late musical legend Prince will be released April 21, exactly one year after his death.
The title track from the EP, titled Deliverance, became available to stream and download on Apple Music and iTunes on Wednesday. The bluesy, gospel-tinged track features the late musician’s unmistakable vocals and an explosive guitar solo.
The EP will be released on independent label Rogue Music Alliance (RMA).
Prince worked on the songs with frequent collaborator Ian Boxill between 2006 and 2008, and the producer completed the mixes after the musician’s death last year, according to Rolling Stone.
“Prince once told me that he would go to bed every night thinking of ways to bypass major labels and get his music directly to the public,” Boxill said in a statement. “When considering how to release this important work, we decided to go independent because that’s what Prince would have wanted.”
The six songs on the EP include “Deliverance,” “I Am,” “Touch Me,” “Sunrise Sunset,” “No One Else,” and an extended version of “I Am.”
According to Minnesota ABC affiliate KSTP, Boxill was slapped with a federal lawsuit just hours after news of the posthumous EP went public. The Prince estate and the musician’s Paisley Park compound accuse the engineer of “trying to exploit one or more songs for his personal gain at expense of the Prince Estate.” The estate would like the masters for the tracks returned.
Prince died unexpectedly at the age of 57 at his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota on April 21, 2016. An autopsy revealed the musician died of an overdose on the powerful painkiller fentanyl.
The search warrants issued at the musician’s estate immediately after his death were unsealed this week, revealing that investigators found prescription medications hidden throughout the complex, including in vitamin bottles.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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