The nomadic emcee known as Milo has been based out of places like Milwaukee, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but these days he’s calling Maine home. 2018 has already been a busy year for him, as we got an album from his alter ego, Scallops Hotel, and the debut of his project with ELUCID, Nostrum Grocers. He’s not ready to slow down yet, though, as he now drops his latest solo album, budding ornithologists are tired of weary analogies.

If you’ve been following Milo’s career up to this point, you’ll have a fairly good idea as to what to expect from BOATOWA, which is to say that there are a lot of downtempo beats that allow space for Milo’s philosophical ponderings and subtle humor to seep through. However, there are some subtle differences here that make this album just a little different from the other. For one, after two full-length albums produced completely by Kenny Segal, Milo shifts to using a myriad of producers this time around, including Segal, Scallops Hotel, Ol Burger Beats, Mt Marcy, Randal Bravery, Steel Tipped Dove, The Jefferson Park Boys, and Q The Sun. What that means in practical terms is that while there isn’t a drastic shift in style, there are some subtle shifts here and there, pushing Milo further towards the blues or jazz in some cases. There isn’t a particular theme to this album, which opens up this particular album to be about anything, which suits Milo well, since his style on the mic often sounds like he’s pondering ideas out loud and connecting dots on the fly, and you just get to sit in on his brainstorming session. This doesn’t work for everybody – in fact it’s only because Milo has put in the work that he’s able to come across so casual in his delivery and still sound so good and have so many interesting lyrical tidbits for you to chew on, whether it be interpretations of philosophers and poets or thoughts on building on the next phase of his life. It’s an album that you’ll want to listen to closely, multiple times, and then mull over all of the hidden lyrical and musical gems hidden throughout.

Milo continues to build up an incredibly strong catalogue, and he’s come a long way since I first heard a mixtape from this college kid in Wisconsin. budding ornithologists are tired of weary analogies is another solid album from an artist who continues to deliver the goods.