Back At The House - Hemlock Ernst and Kenny Segal: Review
is the rapper pseudonym for Sam Herring, who is most commonly known as the front man of contemporary synth pop and indie pop band Future Islands. After a full decade of releasing records with the band and featuring across a number of different records from his indie and hip hop contemporaries Sam saw fit to finally release a full length Hemlock Ernst solo record. On Back At The House Sam teams up with producer Kenny Segal, a regular in underground hip hop, to see Sam craft an experimental rap record.
Review By Lavender:
I've dished out some praise to Future Islands over the years and I've even enjoyed the few moments Hemlock Ernst has popped up on records like Open Mike Eagle and Paul White's Hella Personal FIlm Festival. After a pair of intriguing singles I was really excited for this record, and while I don't think it will turn many heads in the underground hip hop world it is proof that Sam is a true multi-talented artist.
The lead-up to this album started off with Down a track that serves more as a technical showcase of Sam's skills than a thematic statement about anything in particular. The beat is bare bones and the lyrics are incredibly slick but don't really say a whole lot. His constant and effective switching up of his flows is mainly proof of his crossover talent and this track being the lead single was no surprise to me when diving into a new venture. The second single was a much better tune that showed off the songwriting talent and potential of the duo much better, Addicted Youth. One of my favorite songs on the entire record with a classic Madlib inspired beat pairing warm instrumentation with some bellowing vocal sampled. It's also one of Sam's sharpest performances both lyrically and vocally as he really sells the hook in particular and provides endless creative wordplay, thankfully there were even more songs like this one to be found on the record. Bless The Fire sounds like a Hemlock Ernst cypher verse with bars that sound like a group of people should be going OHHHHH after every verse. The beat is simple but very effective with some more great samples and the whole thing even reminds me a little bit of cLOUDDEAD, which is a big compliment coming from me.
The One sounds like a beat straight out of Madvillainy and while Sam does deliver some lyrical miracle bars on the track his flows are very catchy and the song is effortlessly slick. Jargonne is a short but awesome experiment in songwriting with a super unique lyrical approach that you really have to hear to fully understand but it's a cool track that is a great change of pace and an interesting standout moment. Less Unsettled is the closer and one of the best tracks from a lyrical and thematic standpoint as it flows in a very logical almost narrative way. It's a refreshing lyrical moment at the closer that I enjoy quite a bit.
Messy is a track that could use some better mixing as the instrumental is dominated by an incredibly loud percussion kick and when its paired with the tuned up vocals and loud vocal samples it makes it hard to pay attention to the details of Sam's performance. Which is a shame because the flows and vocals are pretty cool and definitely the highlight of the song. North To South is a track that does everything okay but nothing really spectacular. It has a lowkey delivery paired with a lowkey beat that doesn't do anything crazy to stand out for better or for worse.
Slabs of Sunburnt West has some uncomfortably close vocals that make it hard to pay much attention to anything else The beat features some clanky bells and seemingly random basslines. Despite some decent lyrics I'm more than comfortable skipping this track. Stone Soup may be my least favorite song on the entire record as Sam's raspy delivery just doesn't sound good and even though there are some bright spots in the lyrics the beat itself is pretty cool with shining synth notes and some brief choral samples. But the songwriting and lyrics just aren't there. Finally the title track Back At The House is way too lowkey for its own good and has almost nothing to build any momentum or separate the long and kind of aimless series of musings.
Back At The House is an admirable attempt by Sam Herring to crossover into the realm of hip hop and it honestly goes over better than I thought it would. Despite this it does have its flaws with some beats that I wouldn't have included and songs that desperately need some structure. From an artist that has proven himself so talented this record is pretty one dimensional. 6/10
For more experimental hip hop check out my review of Your Old Droog's Transportation here
