We were first introduced to the combination of RJD2 and Philadelphia singer Aaron Livingston on “Crumbs Off the Table,” which was featured on RJD2’s 2010 album, The Colossus. The track was a great funky throwback soul song. I certainly enjoyed it, but as you’ll quickly discover upon listening to The Abandoned Lullaby, Icebird is not interested in just making throwback soul songs. Instead, they’d rather use that as a springboard for more experimental pop music.

I’m working under the assumption that most readers are more familiar with RJD2 than they are with Livingston. In that case, The Colossus is probably the closest starting point you’ll have to understand the musical direction of the album. As stated before, there is a large soul music influence on the album, namely the Philly Gamble and Huff sound, but there’s also a garage/psychedelic rock element to the music, along with some prog rock and hip hop (it is RJD2, after all). There are plenty of electric guitars and live drums to give it the energy of a live recording, and plenty of keyboards and piano. In many cases, you might think you know the direction a song is heading, only to end up somewhere entirely different.

While RJD2 has done collaboration projects before, such as Soul Position with Blueprint, that was more of a traditional hip hop emcee/producer duo. Icebird has a much different dynamic to it, which I have to credit to the lyrics and vocal stylings of Livingston. For one, Livingstone While RJD2 has shown on previous projects he’s not afraid to start a simple song and take it in some unorthodox directions, Livingston quickly demonstrates that he’s not just going to write some simple “Please, baby, baby” lyrics to sing over the top. I think the best song to demonstrate this is “King Tut,” which beings with some midterm syncopated toms before the vocals come in over some gentle keyboards playing in a minor key, with subtle xylophone flourishes. It’s already an interesting song, but then Livingston does an amazing job of painting an poetic portrait of the king of Egypt. Or maybe “I’m Green,” which features an opening of Violent Femmes-style keyboards, only to give way to a classic rock guitar riff, which eventually gives way to a soft, dreamy soundscape, only to come back around again, in a way that’s reminiscent of Electric Ladyland. Livingston moves back and forth between growling over the guitars and crooning over the softer keyboard sections, with lyrics filled with sci-fi and dreamy imagery that would have been right at home on a Hendrix album. “Gun For Hire” actually incorporates the eerie keyboards sound of RJ’s Insane Warrior project, which draws out slowly over two and a half minutes before heavy drums and guitars kick in and we’re suddenly in Deep Purple territory, or maybe more early Sabbath. The best part of all of this is the way it all comes together coherently, which is no small feat.

On the surface, The Abandoned Lullaby seems like such a simple formula for an album. In practice, it’s a challenging record that makes some really interesting choices, combining genres and overlapping styles to create a unique sound. If they just made “Crumbs Off the Table” for the whole album, it would have been enjoyable, but it would have slid to the middle of the pack. Instead, Livingston and RJ pushed each other creatively and gave us a singular album that demands to be listened to over and over.