Offsite is an emcee from Maine, who is part of the Drops of Andromeda label, a Ruby Yacht-adjacent project. He has been releasing music for about the last six years, and he’s grown into one of the most unique and talented artists that’s been flying under the radar in that time. His latest project, help urself, is a collection of older unreleased material along with a few new songs.

Listening to this release, you might not have known it wasn’t crafted in one session, since it flows together so well. Of course, it helps that all the tracks in this collection are produced by Q The Sun from the New Age Narcissism collective out of Milwaukee. He sets the stage with beats that mix together lo-fi downtempo, jazz, and post-rock, finding a good mix between laidback and experimental. This puts Offsite in good position to succeed, who is largely using this project to process loss and learning to heal through the creation of his own art. Offsite has a high-pitched voice that waivers between a slightly nasal rhythmic delivery and a melodic pop-friendly style. He can come with some nice sing-along hooks, but he can also come with a hyperliterate philosophical lyricism that will make you take a step back, rewind, and listen again. Ultimately, though, what makes this project compelling is the bare emotional honesty that Offsite puts into his music. He’s been going through some tough life changes in recent years, including the unexpected death of a friend, and he’s been focusing all of his energy into his music to help him cope. It’s the way he bares himself through his music that makes it so easy to latch onto and relate to.

Offsite is a real talent, and even with a project like this that seems like filler on paper, it doesn’t play out that way in practice. help urself is an emotionally charged and creative project with Offsite’s unique lyrical perspective leading the way.