Acid Reign emcee Gajah first released a full-length project with producer Mute Speaker back in 2013, called On & Offspring. Gajah is from Los Angeles, and Mute Speaker is originally from Brighton, UK and now based in Cambodia, but their chemistry together was evident from the jump, erasing all of the borders and miles between them. The paired back up to make a Zappa-inspired project simply titled Zapped in 2015. Now, the duo has come back for their third go-round with a project called Vent.

While Mute Speaker might have moved to Cambodia, there is a distinct dub feel to his production on Vent, combined with the left field boom bap that’s right in Gajah’s wheelhouse. Speaker then manages to keep adding all of these subtle and interesting layers to his production, and that’s where you can here the Cambodian samples creep into the proceedings, giving just a little flavor here and there. This all sets up Gajah perfectly to deliver his smooth, laid-back, conversational flow with ease, which in turn allows him to really open up on the mic. Over the course of nine songs, he goes in deep to subject matter such as his conflicted feelings about “growing up,” our pursuit of the dollar, alcohol consumption, and online bullying, to name a few. We also get guest appearances from vocalist A. Billi Free, turntablist DJ Ethos, and West Coast emcees Beond, Oso Negro, 2Mex, Woar2, and OneWerd. They all add just enough flavor to the proceedings to keep things interesting as Gajah and Mute Speaker keep everything focused, fun, and challenging. It’s an album that’s immediately accessible, but once it pulls you in, it will then challenge you as a listener, both musically and lyrically. It will challenge you with Mute Speaker’s production and its blend of musical genres and styles that take you from Cambodia to the UK to Jamaica to California, and then it will challenge you with Gajah’s lyrics, who wants you to look in the mirror as he has and take a long look at the choices we’ve made and think about how we might do better moving forward.

Vent is exactly the album you want out of Gajah and Mute Speaker. These two have great chemistry together, where they both sound extremely familiar and completely unique as they push each other to try new things and pave their own path.