Shrimpnose is a producer from Minneapolis who has been making some noise in the past year or so. We just heard from him last December, when he dropped the beautifully sad EP, Dawn. Now he follows that up with another EP, Sullen.

Dawn was specifically written in tribute to a friend who had passed away, so it was expectedly sad and contemplative in nature. With Sullen, Shrimpnose takes a step back and looks at not just the lowest of lows in the past year-and-a-half of his life, but also looking at some pretty substantial highs. So while this remains a fairly short EP, with six songs coming in right around the fifteen minute mark, there’s a lot of emotional content to this project. In general, Shrimpnose is working in a downtempo context, but but he always manages to bring in these interesting elements that don’t let you settle in to your comfort zone, whether it be psychedelic or shoe-gaze effects, or off-kilter drums that stutter at just the right moment. What makes this EP especially effective, though, is the way in which Shrimpnose is able to take you through the up-and-down emotional journey of his life on such a subtly shifting scale. It’s never, “here’s a sad song, and now here’s a happy song!” No, the music is always connecting to whatever is coming next, and gently shifting from these moments of bright happiness to moments of contemplation, sadness, and confusion. The result is a really rich and rewarding EP.

Shrimpnose is really coming into his own as a producer and artist. He’s developed a unique style, and he’s making some really emotionally rewarding and challenging music. I feel like Sullen is the beginning of a new chapter in Shrimpnose’s career, and I can’t wait to see where he goes from here.