Two Fresh is the Asheville, North Carolina production duo of twin brothers Kendrick and Sherwyn Nicholls. The two quickly made a name for themselves after their debut album, The Bakers Dozen, made the rounds in 2009. They have spent time on the road and in the studio, continuing to develop their sound. The effort paid off, as the growth is notable on their sophomore effort, Air Mail.

There aren’t as many duos working in the fields of instrumental hip hop as their are solo artists, since it’s a field of music that naturally lends itself to insular artists. However, the Nicholls brothers compliment each other so well, you’d never be able to pick out who’s providing what part of each song unless you knew their process intimately. In a shift in style from The Bakers Dozen, there aren’t any obvious soul samples before that serve as segues, and there aren’t any jarring breaks or moments of transition. This isn’t to speak ill of their debut, but more to focus on how they’ve matured in a few short years. Everything transitions very smoothly on Air Mail, and you’d be hard pressed to name any particular sample. The album plays like one long continuous mix, with understated shifts in melodies and really skilled layering of textures. They might bring in touches of other genres, be it jazz or classical or dub, but nothing ever sounds out of place, and it all combines to form one style that is uniquely Two Fresh.

Air Mail won’t blow you away, but it will sneak up on you. The Nicholls brothers have shown a lot of artistic growth already, delivering a very mature sophomore album. I’m sure this is just a small sample in what’s sure to be a long career of interesting and complex music to come from these two.