Rounding out a year that has seen him touring, protesting, releasing mix tapes, and joining the Skyrider Band to make one of the strongest and most unique albums of the year, Sole comes back one more time with the Skyrider Band to give us this four-song EP. Most artists would use this as an opportunity to release something fun at the end of the year, just something to say thanks to their fans. Sole isn’t like most artists, though, and this EP is as intense and challenging as anything he’s done.

The title track enlists the help of vocalist Carla Bozulich (The Geraldine Fibbers, Evangelista, Nels Cline Singers) to deliver a song that uses the Challenger space shuttle explosion of 1986 as a stepping stone to tell a tale of technology-inspired paranoia. It’s an ominous song, with a huge driving beat in the back of the mix pushing the track along while dissonant layers of guitar and synthesizer play against each other, all while Bozulich delivers an absolutely haunting chorus. “All American Gangster” takes a look at the term ‘gangster,” as Sole presents the case that the true gangsters are those like Kissinger, who have the power to kill thousands at a distance and then lie to the public about it. “Write or Die,” as you might infer from the title, is a heavy hitting song that takes a hard look at the function of politics within art, a subject matter that Sole is definitely invested in.

If you’ve been following Sole, you should know by now that he takes his music seriously, and he wants to challenge his listeners, and this EP is no different. It doesn’t matter that the year is winding down or what the circumstances are, Sole isn’t letting anybody off the hook.