Michael Franti & Spearhead – Stay Human, Vol. 2 (Album Download)
Michael Franti & Spearhead share a new album titled “Stay Human, Vol. 2“. Stay Human Vol. II knows no limits, dabbling in funk guitars on “You’re Number One”, incorporating strong electronic beats on “This World Is So F*cked Up (But I Ain’t Ever Giving Up on It)” and “Extraordinary”, and adding a bluesy twang to “When the Sun Begins to Shine”. As always, though, Spearhead is at its strongest in the intersections of acoustic folk and electric reggae.
By far the album’s standout track, “Show Me Your Peace Sign” touches on all of Franti and Spearhead’s respective strengths. Franti sings of inclusive, universal love (“It’s the little things in this great big world / And it don’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl / And it don’t matter if you’re someone in between”) and mobilizing for peace (“I want to be standing next to you / When the revolution comes”) to catchy beats and a simple melody that make it an exquisite protest anthem for the modern world.
Michael Franti is nothing if not socially conscious. As the founder and leader of reggae fusion group Spearhead, his music has long embraced revolutionary ideals of peace, love, and understanding. His 2001 concept album Stay Human, with a central anti-death penalty message, celebrated how “all the freaky people make the beauty of the world”, an evergreen sentiment. Eighteen years and seven albums later, Franti and Spearhead have weathered the same traumatic cultural storms as the rest of us, and Stay Human Vol. II proves that the group still has every awareness of the world today – and has no intention of giving up just yet.
Stream and download below.
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