Hi everyone, Sothony Brotano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new heavensouls album, cantu of the sower.

Yes, here is a brand new record that has been getting some buzz from a young and up-and-coming producer who's proving to be a really forward-thinking and prolific artist in the electronic space. heavensouls is far from the only moniker this artist has operated under, who I believe actually goes by Chidi Obialo, but even in the short several years he has been dropping music under this name. He has built up a discography that is so dense, it's just too much for me to go through in order to get this review out in a timely fashion.

Already, though, he has built up a small cult following off of past releases that delved into experimental jazz, collage pieces, glitch music, left-field hip-hop collaborations, too. But cantu of the sower here is proving to have more of an IDM and a new jazz appeal, but that doesn't even begin to describe this record.

On this thing we have six pieces that sprawl across 40 minutes, and some of these pieces just casually stroll past eight minutes of runtime and move through multiple genres and phases in the process. And before I get into the nuts and bolts of the different genres and influences and parallels that flow throughout this project, I'll say there's something really impressive about its versatility, and it's not that there's a bunch of crazy random ideas clashing and contrasting and smashing into each other. Actually, quite the contrary.

Surprisingly, despite how much is going into these tracks, nearly every single one of them flows and evolves really fluidly and logically. Whether you're progressing from the jittery interdimensional electronics a la Iglooghost to ambient post-rock guitars at the very finish of the opening track, or progressing through the bustling filtered tribal drums that are set to layers of synth chords and arpeggios, as well as saxophones sounding like You're Dead!-era Flying Lotus on the song "model housing," which of course ends with a noise rap remix of what I guess is like an obscure YouTube freestyle from 16 years ago? How did he even find this to use it and do this with it?

But yeah, I should also mention, before we reach this point, we go through what sounds like Animal Collective if they were a Ghanaian highlife band or something, just like watery, psychedelic African guitar pop. And then there's the finishing track, which kind of sounds like some Kenny G-flavored sax by the beach, like a new age dream jazz meditation that leaves the album off on a very sweet note.

So yeah, there's a lot going on between the start and end of these tracks, and a lot going on between the start and end of this album. The track "star balcony" is not only mind-bending, but I'm kind of surprised this is a new song. Because at its start, the very complex twittering electronics sounds like something Squarepusher or Aphex Twin would have put together back in the day. And it's one of the more interesting cuts on the record, too, because it's maybe one of the most consistent stylistically, not a whole lot of genre changes here across the track. It just gets progressively jazzy and more dense as it goes along, sounding somewhere between a Four Tet folktronic jazz piece, but like way more maximal, or like a Dan Deacon minimalist extravaganza, but with more electroacoustic textures.

Then there's "group working," which sounds like if you could make mumble rap, and I say that in a complimentary way. Yeah, mumble rap, but if it could be fast and experimental and technical. And again, the textures and instrumental evolution of this track is crazy, especially as we hit these blown-out hand drums, glitchy electronics, and auto-tuned looping vocal leads.

Then with "shipping times and quiet streets," there's a lot going on with this track, but for me, the real selling point of this one is the sax. This is where the saxophone really gets to fly free, and is allowed to take up as much space as it wants. It's like if you could have a freewheeling, inspiring, just melodious jazz meditation and have it backed by a band of twisted, manipulated, stretched vaporwave samples, but like more chaotic, groovy, busy, and layered.

I mean, that's really the best that I could describe it, and I feel like I am doing my best to describe this project and each one of its pieces, but honestly, the reference points are so crazy, and the details are so insane that I feel like words, even the best-intentioned words, can only do it so much justice.

But yeah, that is essentially this album and its six pieces in a nutshell, all of which are impressive in their own right. And while I wouldn't say they come together into the most cohesive album, the predominant IDM, jazz, glitch, electronics, and ambient music leanings are enough to create, I think, just a good amount of common thread for it to make sense as an album.

In addition to that, there's just how envelope-pushing and adventurous the project is, too, and the incredible amount of talent that heavensouls is already showing out of the gate here. Which is why I'm feeling about a decent eight on this one.

Anthony Fantano. heavensouls. Forever.