Mopes is the Providence artist formerly known as Prolyphic, who had been putting out music on Strange Famous since 2006. His last album as Prolyphic, DNGRFLD, came in 2016. Since that time, he had been through some life changes and took a step back o evaluate his music career and had to decide whether or not it was something he wanted to move forward with. After five years, he came back, reinventing himself as Mopes, and releasing a self-titled EP in October of last year. Now he’s back to solidify the name change/comeback with a full-length album, Unwound.

This day and age, you don’t have to look too far as an independent artist before you find someone that will give you advice that boils down to “be a shark – if you stop swimming, you’ll die.” Basically, you should always be creating, you should always be online, you should always be on tour, etc., etc. If you’re at a particularly inspired point in your life, by all means, ride the wave, but if you’ve been at this as long as Mopes has, and you’ve been through the ups and downs of your own life and major shifts in the music industry, by all means take your time to work on your own personal life and mental health. Because here’s the thing – the music will still be there whenever you want to get back to it. The industry might change, and there might be new technology, but if you’ve got ideas about how you want to express yourself and thoughts you want to get off your chest, there’s always going to be some sort of avenue to let you do that. Fortunately, Mopes has a support system in Strange Famous that was more than willing to welcome him back with open arms, and one listen to Unwound and you can see why. It’s a deeply personal album, with a lot of reflection that comes from changes in his personal life, therapy, and self-reflection. More than anything, though, you can just feel how passionate this album is from start to finish. Entirely self-produced, Mopes isn’t trying to completely reinvent his style as an artist with a new name, he’s just giving you a nice range of beats with mood shifts, memorable melodies, and great hooks. He’s pushing the material just enough in interesting directions, whether it be the instrumentation or the tone of the tracks, all while keeping it accessible. He gets a few assists to push the music over the top, from Buddy Peace on the cuts, Alan Hague (of Prayer for Atheists) on guitar, and Joshua Trinidad (of Wheelchair Sports Camp), who add just the right amount of flavor to the mix. On the mic, Mopes is charismatic as ever, bringing you a mix of skill and heart with his lyrics. We also get a few guest spots from Jesse the Tree and Runt, who get in the fun on “Introvert Party,” but it’s the subtle and beautiful vocals of Lynzi Stringer who shows up periodically across a few tracks who gives the album that third heat. Lyrically, Mopes touches on some political issues, and he leaves some room for shit talking, but mostly this album is deep dive into Mopes’ personal life over the last five-plus years, with plenty of conversational and honest self-reflection about who he is, what he cares about, and what he hopes for his future. As a result, you get an album that rewards both longtime fans and new ears that are just getting to know him.

Unwound is a great comeback/reintroduction album for Mopes. He might be performing under a new name, but all the work he put in over the years put him in the position to succeed as he reinvents himself with this new chapter of his career. This album is incredibly thoughtful and mature and musically adventurous, while also delivering an East Coast indie hip hop album that absolutely bumps at the same time.