Last year, after six years of work (more than three of them at sea), Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New York Times journalist Ian Urbina published The Outlaw Ocean: Crime and Survival in the Last Untamed Frontier, his jaw-dropping account of the lawlessness that abounds in oceans around the world. As part of that, Urbina called on various musicians from around the world to compose some original music to go with it.
One such musician was Brooklyn-based producer M!NT who will release a six-track album of his compositions, Invisible Crisis, which includes audio and video samples from Urbina's time at sea — including gunfire recorded off the Somali coast and the voices of sailors taken captive on the South China Sea — mixed in with ambient sound textures to amplify the cinematic scope of the project. In keeping with the nautical theme of the project, M!NT in turn teamed up with British sound engineer and owner of Subvert Central Mastering in Suffolk, Bob Macciochi, who used to work at the International Maritime Organization.
Far from simply being a gripping and sometimes harrowing exploration of piracy, Urbina's book also digs deep into the environmental vigilantism and rampant human rights abuses that often happen at sea, aiming to raise awareness of the urgency of those situations and hopefully incite change.
Ahead of the official release of Invisible Crisis on June 5, take an exclusive listen below and watch the trailer for Outlaw Ocean at the top.
In light of recent events in the US, and as an active proponent of the end of racial injustice, M!NT is donating all his proceeds from streaming to @changethenypd to support a total reform of policing and transparency in New York City. The Outlaw Ocean Music Project is also actively donating to ACLUs police brutality and policy reform division, the NAACP, and BLM.
