When Smoke Rises is the debut studio album by Canadian musician and poet
Mustafa. It was released on May 28, 2021, through Mustafa's Regent Park Songs imprint. The album was produced by frequent collaborator and executive producer
Frank Dukes with contributions from
James Blake,
Jamie xx, and
Sampha, among others. The songs "Stay Alive", "Air Forces", "Ali", and "The Hearse" were released as singles prior to the album's release. The album is self-described as 'inner city folk music' and is thematically centered on Toronto's
Regent Park community.[1]
Mustafa began working on
demos in the late 2010s.[3] Formal songwriting for the album began in 2019 in
London with Swedish producer Simon Hessman also known as
Simon on the Moon.[4][5] Following the songwriting process, frequent collaborator
Frank Dukes came in to produce the album.[5] His production was inspired by the
Smithsonian Folkways anthologies of Sudanese and Egyptian music which he samples throughout the record.[3] Additionally, tracks on the album were produced by London-based musicians
James Blake, who contributed to "Stay Alive" and "Come Back", and
Jamie xx, who produced "Air Forces" and "The Hearse".
When Smoke Rises was released on May 28, 2021, fourteen months after the first single "Stay Alive" was released. It was released
independently by Mustafa under the name Regent Park Songs and distributed by
Beggars Group.[13] A limited edition of the album pressed as different color vinyl records was released by a number of independent record stores including
Rough Trade and VMP (Vinyl Me, Please).[1][6]
"The Hearse" contains a sample of "The Spreading Horns" by Wife of the Paramount Chief from Music of the Sudan: The Role of Song and Dance in Dinka Society.
"What About Heaven" contains samples of "Allah" from The Music of Upper and Lower Egypt; "The Tribe of Babo" by Dinka People of Abyei from Music of the Sudan: The Role of Song and Dance in Dinka Society.