Mute Speaker is a producer originally from the UK, but now residing in Cambodia. Over the years, he’s made his name as a solo artist, but also as a collaborator with Acid Reign emcee Gajah. Most recently, we heard him collaborate with Pensacola emcee Oso Negro on the EP Unk Funk, which came out just a couple of weeks ago. Now he’s already back with a new project, Smidiríní.

If you’ve never listened to Mute Speaker before, Smidiríní is a great place to start, because you get a little bit of everything that makes him special. You get funky boom bap built out of international psych and pop records, you get eerie and beautiful downtempo tracks, and you get a few tracks with guest emcees that show how well he works as a collaborator. Each individual piece is great, but ultimately, it’s the way in which Mute Speaker is able to blend everything together and create this beautiful ebb and flow to the album as he covers all this ground that makes it such a rewarding listening experience. You get a continuation of Unk Funk as Oso Negro comes on “Hibernate” to bring the dense flow and fun word play, and you get the hard hitting posse cut of “Intent,” which features Malkovich, Chris Clarke, and Lodeck. You get the sweet soul of “Fooz,” sounding like a beautiful sunny day, and then you get the eerie sci-fi jazz of “Flash Fire.” You get the head nodding funk of “Nutsacks,” and you get the gospel meditation of “Postmorto.” You get taken on this really interesting and intriguing journey, with Mute Speaker waiting for you around each corner with another sonic surprise.

Smidiríní is the type of release that you just need to trust in Mute Speaker and let him steer the ship. He’s a veteran producer who has covered a lot of ground in his day, and if you trust in his vision, he’s going to take you on a rewarding journey with this album.