Five years ago, New York emcee/producer Quelle Chris teamed up with Oakland producer Chris Keys to make an album called Innocent Country. The project took on a theme of finding one’s self amidst some self-medication and isolation, among other things. Now the two have teamed back up for Innocent Country 2, this time with a slightly different perspective.

While Innocent Country 2 is still about self-exploration, the theme on this volume is more centered on finding peace and healing as we live through these turbulent times. It should be noted that this album is far from your typical pop friendly hip hop album. The two Chris’s have made an album that is more like a mixtape full of vignettes and short musical ideas, eschewing hooks and pop song structure in favor of moods and soundscapes as background for philosophical discussions about life, identity, society, healing, and more. The music is generally peaceful, with moments of discord, filled with all sorts of off-kilter lo-fi samples and crackles somehow making sense in context. Over the course of the album, we get an array of guests including Merrils Garbus, Homeboy Sandman, Cavalier, Pink Siifu, Billy Woods, and Denmark Vessey, just to name a few, but most of these contributions end up sounding more like casual conversations with their friend Quelle Chris than emcees coming in to drop killer verses and steal the album. As a result, the whole thing plays out as something best listened to on headphones where you can listen to the whole thing in one sitting, so you get the full range and let the discussions get the wheels spinning in your own head.

Innocent Country 2 is a smart album from two hip hop veterans, but it’s also very atypical in a lot of ways. It’s challenging and doesn’t spoon fed a lot to you as a listener, instead just playing out and letting everyone catch up to all of the unusual styles they are throwing down. As a result, it’s a bit of a slow burn, but it will definitely grow on you.