Nashville musician Nathan Conrad, better known as Spoken Nerd, has been releasing his own unique mix of indie rock and hip hop for over a decade now. His last release came three years ago, when he dropped the EP Falling Is Fun. Now he gets to make his Fake Four debut with the full-length album I Need a Friend Like You.

One of the most interesting aspects of Spoken Nerd is not just the ways in which he combines indie rock and hip hop, but how his music seems to exist on this spectrum, and he slides back and forth along it from song to song. By this I mean that one song might fall right in the middle between the two genres, one might lean slightly more towards rock but still have hip hop elements, and one might be a straight up rock song. They all work together, though, because each song is in conversation with the others, whether it be shared musical elements, lyrical themes, or just Spoken Nerd’s personality shining through, which brings a mix of sarcastic humor, thoughtful social observations, and punk attitude. Working with producer Ryan Griffin on this album, they do a great job of finding that balance between all the elements and making the album flow from start to finish. After a short opening title track, you get “Friday Rich,” a Pavement-inspired track with a sung chorus and rapping from Spoken Nerd, who addresses the subject matter of gentrification with nuance that you don’t normally get in this format. This moves into “This Old Boy,” a blues-rock/hip hop song that takes the Tom Waits approach to exploring the back story of the old punk rocker at the end of the bar. From there we get “Spaghetti,” which delivers a great extended metaphor through food to talk about struggling to make it as an independent musician and to make a relationship work. Through these three songs, you get a great idea of what makes Spoken Nerd so interesting and likeable as a musician, and it makes you wonder what else he has in store for the rest of the album. Unfortunately, it’s not all smooth sailing to the end. While Spoken Nerd did a great job of handling the subject matter of gentrification with a lot of subtlety and nuance and relayed his own personal experience in dealing with it, we don’t get the same quality of examination of the yuppie/hippie lifestyle on songs like “Vladamir Gluten,” which seems much more content to rely on some tired jokes. “The Time You Voted for President” has similar tone problems, which presents a muddied critique of half-informed people with political opinions. These are small bumps in the road, though, and he more than gets back on track by the time you get to the end of the album. In fact, the second to last track, “Good Barber,” with it’s emotional trumpet solos, huge sing-along chorus, and clever lyrics about not fitting in and trying to create you own path, is my favorite song on the album.

It’s not perfect, but I Need a Friend Like You is a great introduction to the unique musicianship of Spoken Nerd. It finds a unique musical path from start to finish, contains some smart and emotional lyricism, and delivers on some huge hooks that will stick in your head for days.