Above: Tarrus Riley

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaican reggae star Tarrus Riley will be releasing his new acoustic album on April 17, Mecoustic in European markets.

The album, which is being released in conjunction with France-based Soulbeats Records, features collaborations with dub poet Cherry Natrual and Riley’s father Jimmy.

“We have some new songs and some old songs and revisiting the old songs brought back memories,” he said. “The whole experience of putting this project together was a learning experience again. These are songs that are very special and personal.”

The new work follows previous albums including Challenges, Parables and Contagious.

Riley talked about the album in an interview with Caribbean Journal earlier this year.

“This is like good food — real rich, quality music,” he said. “This is something you want to have in your music collection.”

Musician Dean Fraser, who is Riley’s musical director, worked on the project along with Riley’s Black Soil bank.

“This is a pet project between me and Tarrus,” Fraser said. “We just wanted to the people to get a better understanding of words and meanings of these songs.”

The project, which took a year to complete, is Riley’s first since Contagious in 2009. The acoustic set will be available worldwide June 26.