Arms and Sleepers — aka musical duo Max Lewis and Mirza Ramic — have released over 20 albums and EPs over their 10-plus years together. Compared to 2014's stunning Swim Team, whose 11 tracks clock in at a short 35 minutes, their latest, Life Is Everywhere, boasts 18 new tracks and runs just over an hour. As always, their latest employs a stylized blend of trip-hop, downtempo and ambient, but Life Is Everywhere is heavy on the hip-hop side, and pulls in MC Serengeti and Airøspace to take the lead on a handful of tracks. It's not something we hear often from the duo, but it's a reflection of where the two stand at the moment, both personally and musically.
The album was inspired largely by Ramic's experiences working with underprivileged youth through a non-profit in Chicago's South Side, and a reaction to the socioeconomic problems currently plaguing the U.S. Tracks like "Come Down Horizon," "Fall Asleep" and "Hollow Body," featuring Serengeti and Airøspace, add a sombre and defiant tone to the album, a bold juxtaposition with the lighter instrumentals like the scratchy, dream-like current of first single "Time Will Tell." The record is Arms and Sleepers through and through, but with politics brought boldly to the surface.
(Fake Chapter Records)The album was inspired largely by Ramic's experiences working with underprivileged youth through a non-profit in Chicago's South Side, and a reaction to the socioeconomic problems currently plaguing the U.S. Tracks like "Come Down Horizon," "Fall Asleep" and "Hollow Body," featuring Serengeti and Airøspace, add a sombre and defiant tone to the album, a bold juxtaposition with the lighter instrumentals like the scratchy, dream-like current of first single "Time Will Tell." The record is Arms and Sleepers through and through, but with politics brought boldly to the surface.