Like millions of other Americans, Matthew King spent much of 2020-2021 in lockdown after COVID-19 arrived on the scene.

But like other artists, King, of Amherst, also used that downtime to keep busy with his music, writing a number of new songs and sketching out potential arrangements for them.

Fast-forward a few years and those songs are now finished material on “The Resonance Within,” the new album by TapRoots, the musical ensemble fronted by King that blends a potpourri of sounds and influences: funk, soul, reggae, Afrobeat and more.

The album also reflects King’s community-minded approach to music: He drew on 30 different players, on everything from horns and keyboards to cuatro and flute, to build on his own contributions on vocals, guitar and percussion.

Some of those musicians are part of TapRoots’ regular lineup, and they’ll be performing songs from “The Resonance Within” when the band comes to Easthampton’s Marigold Theater on April 28.

But the larger number of contributors points to the connections King has made in the area over the years as a musician and as a former music and history teacher at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School in South Hadley.

“I wanted to bring in some friends and the larger artistic community who could really take the music in a broader direction,” he said during a recent phone call. “In the end I got some great contributions from some fantastic musicians.”

King, who has played in other Valley bands, including as a percussionist with The Alchemystics, says TapRoots’ new songs have been getting some good reviews from audiences in gigs the band has played since “Resonance” was released last month, although translating the album’s rich, layered sound to live performance has taken a little time.

“We’ve been getting to know each other musically [live] and getting the balance right, and I think we’re there now,” Kin said of the band, which tours with 12 players, including a horn section and three backup/harmony singers.

“Resonance” is the second album by TapRoots, and it marks a progression from the first disc, released in 2018. King says he was looking to expand his sound by bringing in more Latin rhythms, especially Afro-Cuban percussion, a style of music he had previously studied and played.

“The new album is really built on the foundation of the first one,” he said. “I wanted to bring that Afro-Cuban jazz element in, as well as some Nigerian Afrobeat.”

King, who has lived and traveled in parts of Central America, said that experience has also influenced the lyrics to the new songs, which speak to the importance of community and having a spiritual connection to the natural world. He calls the album “a new vision of cultural sonic fusion that touches the live wire of the spirit, body and mind.”

“What is the unseen force that holds communities together?” he said. “I think music and a strong artistic presence is central to that, along with a respect for this planet that we all live on.”

Sounds of the sea

The album’s opening cut, “Song for the Ocean,” speaks to that idea, with a guest vocal by I-Shea (from The Gaslight Tinkers), who sings in Spanish, English and Yoruba, an official language of Nigeria. The song, which opens with the sound of waves, is dedicated to Yemaya, a mother spirit of Yoruban culture.

Then there’s the second cut, “Nature’s Law,” which gets a good bit funkier, with steady percussion, organ, and quick bursts of guitar. Lyrically, it could be speaking to the worry and uncertainty that climate change has brought: ”You feel it break, the past now outgrown / Now the only law is nature’s own.”

“I think a lot of us, coming out of the pandemic, were asking, ‘What happens now? What does this all mean?’” King said. “Are we going to live right, or are we going to trash the place?”

One element connecting many songs on “Resonance” is the rich texture of the horns — trumpet, saxophone and trombone — as well as strong bass lines, notably on tunes like “Gumbo,” which offers an irresistible beat and a nod to New Orleans rhythms.

Adding an ace keyboard part to that tune is Mitch Chakour, the former director of the PVPA music program and an inspiration to King, who says Chakour gave him a great opportunity to expand his musicianship after King was initially hired to teach history at PVPA around 2006.

“I used to go down to the music department on my breaks between classes and practice different instruments,” he said.

There’s another PVPA connection on several tracks on the new album, courtesy of bass work by Eli Heath and drums by Braham Malsa. They’re both former students of King who’ve gone on to study music at the college and graduate level.

Another appeal of “Resonance” is the way many songs ebb and flow, with sections of full sound giving way to quieter moments when individual instruments are highlighted, such as a flute on “Ojala,” and a multi-stringed cuatro, played by Jose Gonzalez of Amherst, on “Forgotten Ghost.” The chiming effect of the cuatro is used to good effect on the song, which offers a Latin beat, a bright melody, and lyrics that speak to the importance of ancestral roots and memories.

“I like music that twists and turns,” King said. “I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, that era of progressive rock, and a lot of that has stayed with me.”

This being an album whose origins were in the pandemic, there’s one tune dedicated to that strange, awful time. “Everything is Rumba” offers some tongue-in-cheek lyrics — “Everything is lock-down / Everything zoom bombing / Every loss wears the crown” — and is built predominantly around layered vocals and percussion.

The vocals and harmonies are a key part of the album as a whole, which King produced and which was engineered at Northfire Studios in Amherst.

“It was important to try and get that mix right, especially with all the different pieces,” King said. “You don’t want to have just a wall of sound.”

He says he’s excited to have the new album out now, at a time when he sees signs of growing interest in the region for more varied music, from the “global groove” of TapRoots to the international bands that have appeared in clubs such as the Bombyx Center for Arts & Integrity in Florence.

“I think we’ve created some space in the area for that kind of music to really get a foothold,” he said. “I’d like to see that continue.”

TapRoots will be joined by Rebelle at the Marigold Theater on April 28 starting at 8 p.m. More information on TapRoots is available at thetaprootsmovement.com

Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.

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