P.T. Burnem is an artist from Richmond, Virginia who has been releasing music for about fifteen years. Just this past April, he released an album called Perzang! which delivered the experimental electronic/punk/hip hop that he’s come to be known for. You could also find him amongst the plethora of emcees showing up to drop rhymes and have fun on production duo Necessary People’s These are the Necessary People, which dropped in July. Now Burnem is back with a different sort of project, Imaginary Album #0.

If you’re used to Burnem as a front man or emcee who can bring energy to a guest verse, you might be surprised to know that Burnem has a few different sides to him as an artist. The original idea behind Imaginary Album #0 was that Burnem was going to write and record this as source material to be sampled and transformed into the music on Perzang! Enough people asked about this supposed ‘lost’ album that Burnem decided to release it to the public. In short, this is an experimental electronic album, one that could be classified as ambient or drone. What this means in a practical sense is that it’s an album that requires some patience – it’s slow to build, and you’re never going to get any vocals or melodic hooks like you would on a pop album. This is all about atmosphere and exploring the textures of different sounds and just being in the moment, letting go and experiencing everything as it happens. Or, in Burnem’s words, it’s “Best enjoyed under the moonlight.” It’s absolutely gorgeous, and it’s clear that Burnem put a lot of care into his compositions, so if you are willing to take a chance on an album like this, be sure to give yourself the space to properly take it in and absorb everything that’s happening.

Imaginary Album #0 is a different sort of release from P.T. Burnem, but a welcome one. It’s a gorgeous dive into the world of ambient electronic music, and it will make for a wonderful soundtrack to a peaceful moment in your life.