Kevin Bronson on November 5th, 2020

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Ted Taforo is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and experimental composer with some jazz bona fides (he twice earned the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award) and credits playing with rock and pop artists. That’s his saxophone on “Us,” the closing track on Spoon’s 2017 album “Hot Thoughts.”

His own compositions filter his jazz background through the lens of modern electronic music, particularly inspired by the L.A. beat scene, mixing a variety of keyboards with sax and vocals in Ableton to create a stew of future jazz, ambient and global music. He’s released an album and two EPs, including 2020’s “Between Dreams,” a sampler platter of his boundary-pushing concoctions.

Taforo’s new single, “Tired of Pretending” (out Friday), is a funky, bouncy two-minute excursion with a more direct conceptual bent than much of his material. It’s the first taste of Taforo’s forthcoming album “Outside,” due in 2021 via Future Gods. The sax stays home on this one, which features guest vocalist Lenka Shockley. Their vocals meld as they confess what has become apparent to so many in 2020: “I’m tired of pretending / that everything’s OK.”

“We as Americans have the means to evolve as a society and it’s time to do so,” Taforo says. “Our political and cultural values have defined and divided us for far too long. It’s time to champion systemic changes that value community and respect over individual fame, glory and fortune. Pretending things will work out, doesn’t work out. My sincere hope is that Americans will learn to listen to each other.”

||| Stream: “Tired of Pretending” (feat. Lenka Shockley)