”Hello from the Spirit World
My days here have been as rewarding as they are troublesome
And often dangerous.”

Such is the opening lines of the newest release from Aesop Rock, Spirit World Field Guide. I wrote about the first two singles in an earlier post and finally, today, friday the 13th year 2020, the album was released. There was a leak online but i decided that i didn’t want to listen to it before the actual release dropped, so i waited. However since there was a global midnight release as soon as it hit midnight it meant that here in Europe i managed to listen to it once before i went to sleep.
I’ve listened to the album four times in total, and i really do enjoy it, i find it to be one of his best releases ever, if not even the best. I have to admit, i am a sucker for Aesop Rock and his music, so, this text will be biased, very much so.

This is clearly a concept album, and i love the idea of concept albums, some are great and some not – but the idea behind concept albums intrigue me. As Rhymesayers said in their release post, they called the tracks chapters, rather than tracks, and as speculation pointed to, aswell as the name of the album, this is a field guide to the spirit world of Aesops fantasy. The first chapter of the album is called Hello From The Spirit World and this chapter is very important to listen to, if you want to understand the concept running through the album. The chapters are stand alone, and works by themselves since they are tracks – but to get the whole experience from the chapters this first chapter gives us the premises that this field guide is built upon.

I’ve listened to this album from start to finish and on shuffle. I think that everyone that wants to listen to this album should start with listening to it in order the first time, and after that you can shuffle it. I’m very bad at this, but it is something that i’ve been trying hard to change in my later years – and i feel that the first time you experience and album, it should probably be intended the way the author (artist) wanted it. Since this is a concept album and a field guide, you probably will, i know i did, draw parallels to literature – and you wouldn’t read the book from the middle the first time you read it. That you can do when you’ve experienced the conceptual art.

However, i do wish to point out that this is not a difficult album to listen to. Conceptual albums, and literature and anything that’s conceptual has gotten a rumour about it that it’s difficult and complex to understand – this is not. I mean, it’s a Aesop Rock album, so it will be filled with complex lyrics that got metaphores within the metaphores, but that’s just Aesop Rock. I believe that if you’re new to Aesop Rock this album is as good a starting point as any other of his albums.

The album is very well made. I’ve seen discussions online about mastering and sound levels and equalizer options being off. But i don’t hear it. I’ve listened to this album on three different setups, a pair of in ears, a pair of studio headphones and a regular speaker setup. The difference is that, the better the speaker/headphones you listen to, the better it will sound. I don’t believe the problem is mastering here, i believe the problem is that people listen to it with different audio setups and that’s what makes the difference – atleast that’s my point of view on the reported issues.

To round things off:
This album will roll steady on Spotify for me, i’ve been finding new chapters (tracks) that stick out every time that i’ve listened through it so far. However i am really feeling Crystal Sword, Jumping Coffin and Coveralls.

You can find the album at places that you find music. I hope you give it a listen this weekend.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.

”Might be a trap, shit, it’s probably a trap
Might be a possum in the trash
It’s probably a trap”