On their sophomore album, St. John’s sweethearts and rap vets, ChessClub have bolstered their sound and dived deeper into the vaults of their lyrical exploration. Combining stellar production that trills with arpeggiated synth notes and drips and pops with glistening sound textures and ambient vibes, These Flowers Are For You weaves a masterful sonic tapestry of modern hip-hop.
Songs like “Marking Time” and “By Design” flow with an ease and spaciness reminiscent of Chet Faker and crackle with a sonic glaze that hints at the sound worlds of experimental pop outfit, Glass Animals. The auditory dimensions of “These Flowers” are robust and move with ease through the pallets of modern hip-hop, downtempo, ambient and even nuances of vaporwave.
Likewise, the members of ChessClub show a similar dexterity with the diversity of their rapping. The flow changes gears on a dime moving from slow cadences and bold articulations to taught, wicked fast lyrical jabs and hooks, always finding a comfortable place amid the kaleidoscopic backgrounds.
Layered with melodic vocals that dip and break to open up for lyrical landslides that pummel the listener with a torrent of deeply earnest and whip-sharp rhyme schemes, the tone of the album is both confessional and raw. The terrain explored is observational and introspective in a manner and sound not far from the “art rap” acrobatics of Open Mike Eagle, or Milo, but also carry the melodic sensibilities and subjects of today’s chart-toppers. ChessClub finds itself meditating on themes of hurt and exultation with an intensity and candour that is at times startling, and always deeply moving.
On “Amazing Things”, the vocals shift from carefully paced and subtly auto-tuned to no-holds-barred soliloquies that rip straight from the viscera in a celebration of self-awareness and the portent of things to come:
I just got high just a little,
I’m cookin, I’m warming, I’m something enormous
I’m stunting I’m gorgeous, I’m one with the orbit
Whereas, on “Carry The Earth, Atlas”, the lyrical content shifts to more severe explorations on the theme of hardship and the lightness at the end of struggle:
There was a real life I knew that I lost
but it feels quite renewed
cuz I knew that I lost, but eschewed what I knew in a loss
to be beautiful, phew this is awesome
such a view to of a god’s send
loose odd ends
took a noose off and flew from the edge
Indeed, These Flowers Are For You is an impressive outing from a band that has taken the time and patience to develop and refine their sound. The richness and maturity makes for a complex and intimately felt journey, through love, loss and personal exploration.