Everything about this album was born about two years ago. Doomtree emcee Sims had just his solo album More Than Ever, which was largely produced by Twin Cites producer ICETEP. Around this same time, Sims had been contacted by the newly formed group Air Credits, consisting of Chicago artists Show You Suck and Hood Internet, to appear on their first album. It wasn’t much longer until Sims and Air Credits were on tour together, and by the time the tour was over, all four artists now found themselves collaborating on a new album as a group, first in Chicago, and then Minneapolis. Their efforts are now seeing the light of day with their full-length album, Arteria Verite.

Arteria Verite is an interesting album in juxtaposition to the projects and artists around it. More Than Ever was a darker turn for Sims in his career, but he bounced back with the Shredders album that was much more lively and fun to listen to. Depending on which Air Credits you’ve listened to, you might think of the project as this wild and entertaining pairing, or it could be this dark and introspective hip hop. This is all to say that while I knew there was plenty of talent going into this project, I didn’t know what exactly to expect to hear when I pressed play. The answer is that this is some futuristic dystopian hip hop, with Hood Internet and ICETEP channeling artists like Vangelis and Tangerine Dream to create these dark, eerie, and dense soundscapes with layers and layers of synthesizers. This is then paired with the paranoid rhymes of Sims and Show You Suck, who take turns imagining how far down the rabbit hole we can go down with government surveillance, or how much me might destroy our own planet. While this is largely a dark and intense album, there is a message of hope buried within all of the music, which is that amongst all of the bad stuff happening in the world, there is always going to be a need for human connection, to know that we’re not going through this alone. It’s that key message that shifts the album from just gloom and doom, to sounding very determined and passionate. It’s a fine line, but it makes all the difference.

Arteria Verite isn’t the bright and happy album you want to pump on some hot summer days, but as the weather cools and daylight becomes more scarce, matching our current political and social climate in the U.S., this will become the soundtrack for those that want to fight for a better future.