Aesop Rock - The Impossible Kid [2LP]

Aesop Rock turns his famously dense, kaleidoscopic pen inward on The Impossible Kid, his 2016 album presented here as a double LP.

His seventh studio album, released on Rhymesayers, was produced entirely by Aesop himself, and it stands as the most personal record of his career. Instead of hiding behind thickets of abstraction, he writes plainly about family, ageing, therapy, creative doubt and the friends he has lost, without sacrificing any of his trademark wordplay.

Rings mourns the visual artist he once was, wrestling with the guilt of letting a passion slip away. Blood Sandwich turns childhood memories of his brothers into one of the warmest songs he has written, while Shrunk walks through a session on the therapist's couch with wry self-awareness. Kirby, about adopting a cat, is as funny as it is quietly touching.

The beats are knotty and inventive, built on crunchy drums and warped synths that match the restless energy of his writing, with every verse packed tight with images and odd, vivid detail.

It remains a high point in a catalogue full of them, the rare rap record that rewards a lyric sheet and a second listen in equal measure, and this double LP gives its fifteen tracks room to hit.