Hermit Kingdom is a group from Austin that have been doing their thing, making left-field hip hop for a few years now. Recently, one of the emcees from the group, Philos, teamed up with an up-and-coming producer also in Austin, Flobama, to make an album together. Now the result of their hard work is finally here in the form of Love Hugs Drugs.

This is an interesting album in a lot of different ways. First, Flobama has a pretty unique production style in his approach to this album, one that fits with Philos very well. It’s an understated, jazz-sampling, trap/downtempo style of production that on paper seems like it shouldn’t work, but in practice works extremely well. It’s not the type of production that will catch your ear right away, but instead will slowly creep up on you with all of these subtle twists and turns that bring all sorts of extra flavor to the proceedings without distracting you from the main feature, which are the lyrics of Philos. The overall tone of the album is one of melancholy, and Philos is your tour guide as he guides you through tales of infatuation, love, loss, depression, drugs, and the messy ways these all intersect. His delivery on the mic is also understated, but his ability to draw you in as a listener and weave together compelling narratives and vivid imagery with emotional depth is incredibly engaging. It’s not the type of album to put on at a party, but I would imagine it’s a great road trip album, something to listen to all the way through and really get inside your own head. All of this is already working well, but I haven’t even gotten to the secret ingredient, which are the background vocals of Britt Tolliver and Tenci, who allow for this really compelling musical conversation between these sweet sung lines against Philos’ conversational flow.

Love Hugs Drugs is a slow burner. It will sound good at first, but Philos and Flobama are working in such an understated fashion, it might take a few songs in before you realize just how good this album is, and how rich and emotionally complex this hip hop is.