Two-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble Planet Drum have announced they’re set to return with their first studio album in 15 years, In the Groove, on Aug. 5. The release marks the renowned world music supergroup’s first effort since 2007’s Global Drum Project which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album; their 1991 self-titled debut remains one of the most successful percussion recordings of all time and won the first-ever Grammy Award for Best World Music Album.

The group–comprised of Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hidalgo and Sikiru Adepoju–developed the LP during the COVID-19 pandemic after Hart’s touring schedule with Dead and Company came to a halt and he was able to reconnect with his three brothers in sound. Together they contemplated the healing nature of rhythm and from those contemplations, the album was forged.

“I thought there was a great need for this. Rhythmic unity among cultures is what Planet Drum is about, and with the world in torment, it sends a powerful message of healing,” said Hart in a press release.

According to the band, In the Groove was arranged to be an album to dance to; an avenue for lovers of sound to exalt a refreshed understanding of renewal after the exhaustion and depletion of the last two years. “It’s a groove album. Very little virtuoso soloing, but four of us in sync within the groove adds up to something incredible,” said Zakir. When listening to the album one may surmise that the project was recorded through spatial processing but towards the end, the group was able to come together and perform live – and they’d be correct.

Planet Drum are set to share the album with their first live show in fifteen years at the Frost Amphitheater in Stanford, Calif. on May 1. Additionally, they’ll celebrate the release of In the Groove with two performances at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y. on Aug. 5 and 6.

Find tickets to The Capitol Theatre shows here.

Watch a behind-the-scenes video below.