A.M. Breakups is a producer from Brooklyn who has been working for years, both as a solo artist and as part of groups like Cult Favorite and We Are Not For Them. It’s been two years since his last proper album, which came from his work We Are Not For Them. It’s been even longer since we go a proper solo release from him, but the wait is now over with the release of his solo full-length album, Out Of Four Came Many Soldiers.

Most solo releases from A.M. Breakups in the past have been of the short EP variety, but Out of Four Came Many Soldiers is nineteen tracks of dark beats, which give him a lot of room to explore and expand his sound. He still keeps to his roots of post-rock and underground East Coast hip hop of the late ‘90s, but there’s a lot of other elements that come through on this album. On much of the album, A.M. Breakups will take one unique angle to a song, something that he hasn’t done before, or at least not to a large extent, and really explore where that can take you. This could be the haunting, mournful sound of the violin on “Dark Sides,” or it could be the blues guitar of “Tore Down,” or it could even be something as simple as the horn hit and organ trade off on “Fire Blazing.” Point is, this album both satisfies people looking for the A.M. Breakups sound they already know and love, and it branches out and satisfies those that are looking to see him show some growth as an artist. It’s a tough balance to achieve, but he certainly does an admirable job here. Ultimately, what you have in Out of Four Came Many Soldiers is an album that will sound amazing on your headphones on an overcast day, when you really want to get lost in some darker instrumental music and really appreciate all the subtle ways in which A.M. Breakups is challenging himself and his listeners.

Out of Four Came Many Soldiers might seem like a straightforward downtempo album when you initially start to listen to it, but once you get past the initial introduction and get into the weeds with it, you’ll find an album that is incredibly complex, dark, and beautiful.