Curtis Harding has always thrived at the intersection of soul tradition and fearless experimentation, but his new album, Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt, takes that vision further than ever. The Atlanta-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist dreamed up a concept rooted in the longing of life on the road, expanding it into the tale of a pilot lost in space. The result is an album that fuses the cosmic scope of a sci-fi epic with the raw emotion of classic soul.

Recorded in Austin, the self-produced album follows Harding’s widely praised If Words Were Flowers. UPROXX hailed him then for “making some of the best modern soul music out right now,” and this new project affirms that reputation with bold conviction. Handling the production himself was a deliberate choice, a return to the approach of his debut Soul Power, but now armed with the confidence and skill to bring his boundless ideas to life. The album was mostly tracked live with a full band, delivering a spectrum that spans moody space-funk, baroque-pop, and psych-rock, all carried by Harding’s commanding vocals and searing guitar.

The story of Captain Curt reflects Harding’s own sense of dislocation. Always away from home, he leaned into the metaphor of a man drifting through galaxies in search of belonging. That narrative comes alive in the music, heightened by the sweeping string arrangements of Steve Hackman, whose orchestration pushes the songs into cinematic territory. Harding cites filmmaker Ridley Scott as a key influence, and the grandeur of that inspiration is easy to hear in the album’s scale.

Yet for all its otherworldly sheen, Departures & Arrivals remains anchored in deeply human emotion. Tracks like “True Love Can’t Be Blind” shimmer with warmth, celebrating love that transcends distance. “Time” pulses with horns and gospel-tinged call-and-response, offering hope to those who feel adrift. And with “The Power,” Harding delivers a disco-fueled anthem that resonates as both a personal and political call to reclaim joy and strength in uncertain times.

With Departures & Arrivals, he ties those threads together while venturing into new territory. From the sweeping romanticism of “There She Goes” to the dreamlike closer “Running Outta Space,” the record feels like his most complete vision to date. For Harding, the message at its heart is one of connection through shared vulnerability. “Sometimes when you’re feeling lost, hearing from someone else who’s felt the same way can let you know you’re not alone,” he says. In that sense, Departures & Arrivals is both a voyage through the cosmos and a reminder that the path home often begins with the simple act of being understood.