Atmosphere Infuses Levity and Lightheartedness Into New Album

The underground hip-hop act Atmosphere has just announced that its new album, WORD?, will come out on Oct. 8 via Rhymesayers Entertainment. In advance of the album’s release, the group has released a new music video for “Woes” and a maxi-single entitled “WORD? Side A,” which features four tracks from the album.

Directed by Roxana Baldovin (Maluma/Steve Aoki, Gucci Mane, Doja Cat, Kehlani, Trey Songz), the music video features frontman Slug as a fish — or shark, rather — out of water, musing on the inevitable struggles of interpersonal relationships and the labors of love, saying “If you ever had a pulse then you know how it goes / We show up for each other and try to hold each other close / I ain’t above it, it’s a struggle to grow / You can’t love a life without a couple of woes.” The light-hearted visuals and earnest sentiments are complemented by a summery, reggae-influenced track from producer Ant.

Following their last release, The Day Before Halloween, which a press release describes as “an imaginative, distorted-synth-driven concept album,” Atmosphere’s new project veers toward its signature sound. Further highlighting producer Ant’s undeniable talents, WORD? leans into the classic boom-bap aesthetic, bringing a unique energy out of Slug’s wisdom, wit and delivery.

“From onset, WORD? proves to be as much of an exercise in refining and advancing their craft as it is a harkening to earlier work,” reads a press release about the album. “That is, while Atmosphere’s releases have grown more broodingly cinematic and increasingly concerned with the human condition and mortality, WORD? manages to reintroduce moments of levity and lightheartedness throughout, an approach seldom heard on their albums of late.”

From album opener “Fleetwood,” with its razor-sharp snares and warm fleshy bassline, to the resonant melody of “Clocked”, there are strong hints of Atmosphere’s nascent years within the sound. Meanwhile, songs like “Woes,” “Strung” and “Vanish” make light of daily hardships. With Slug and Ant directing the course, the album plays like a “joyride” through a range of experiences and emotions, with an extensive cast of special guests hopping in and out along the way, including Evidence, Muja Messiah, Musab, Nino Bless, Nikki Jean, Anwar HighSign, BlackLiq, Sa-Roc, Haphduzn, Lateef the Truthspeaker, Aesop Rock, and the late MF DOOM. The result is a project that feels like it came from the era or, perhaps more fittingly, the mindset that created albums like God Loves Ugly, Seven’s Travels, or the popular Sad Clown series, while sounding as polished and perfected as more recent albums like Mi Vida Local or Whenever.

Ultimately, WORD? pairs the breadth of Atmosphere’s talents with the beauty of their growth, all while showing they still have a lot of fun in the process and don’t mind letting the listener in on the fun as well.

In another pairing of Atmosphere’s talents, the duo is teaming up with Cypress Hill for a co-headlining tour this summer. Cypress Hill and Atmosphere will split headlining duties throughout the tour. Additionally, Atmosphere will perform at the Cali Roots Baja Sessions later this year in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and at the Cali Roots festival in Monterey, CA in 2022.

Atmosphere photo credit: Dan Monick