R.A.P. Ferreira is the nomadic artist now based in Nashville formerly known as Milo. Over the years he has built up quite the discography, and one of his favorite collaborators over that time has been Los Angeles producer Kenny Segal. Segal himself has a project called Jefferson Park Boys, which is his collaboration with Aaron Carmack and Mark Parvizi, which involves live instrumentation and hip hop production. Now, everything has aligned so that we get a full length album with R.A.P. Ferreira and The Jefferson Park Boys, purple moonlight pages.

Because of the nature of The Jefferson Park Boys, purple moonlight pages has a “live” feel to the album, even if it’s not officially a live album. There’s just that energy to the proceedings, like you’re sitting on a combination cypher/jam session. Ferreira is of course bringing his philosophical abstract poetry to the mix and he balances that we keen observations about his career, family, race, society and beyond. There are some hooks along the way, but mostly the album feels like this free flowing conversation where Ferreira is giving you an update on everything that’s been happening in his life since we last checked in. Alongside all of this, we have the Jefferson Park Boys taking Segal’s typical low-fi downtempo production and injecting some new energy into it, whether it be with horns, percussion, guitar, or whatever else might be lying around and can make some sound. It’s an incredibly fun album to listen to for this reason. You might have a general idea as to what to expect from the album, but then The Jefferson Park Boys will throw some new elements into the mix and keep you guessing from track to track, and because of the way it’s recorded, you almost feel like you’re in the room with all of the artists as they try different things out and discover these moments of musical brilliance.

Ferreira has been at this for a while, and working with The Jefferson Park Boys was a great decision for his new album. It gives him the familiarity of working with Segal, while also injecting his music with the live energy and inventiveness that give a different feel than any of his previous efforts.