CD Review: Aesop Rock – “Spirit World Field Guide” (2020)

Even with a little over a month to go until 2020 is over, it’s easy to argue that we’re still walking through a forest, uncertain about what the future looks like. By some miracle, most of us have gotten through it in one piece, capable of seeing the light on the other side. Still, there is a ways to go before we reach that point. There needs to be that endurance, that desire to push through and find something more substantial. How do we get there? What mystical forces will we face? No matter who you talk to, the rational people will tell you that it’s best to take some sort of precaution, preparing for something still unforeseen.

For Aesop Rock, that is turning to music. Like the best of artists, he sees the world around him and doesn’t see despair. He sees a place of hope, a need to make music that speaks to our unified need to survive. While some have used it to go insular, finding something deeper inside that is cathartic and beautiful, he has decided to give in to fantasy, something that will undoubtedly entertain and create an escape for anyone suffering from the doldrums of this uneventful Fall season. As he would put it, this is an album for people who feel “alive and dead at the same time.” So strap on your bag and let’s get hiking!

“Spirit World Field Guide” is designed like a backpacking manual through a forest. During preorder, there were even opportunities to buy it with a novelty canteen and pocketknife. This is a wholly thought out world, preparing to take the listener into a forest that is full of something more wondrous and exciting. In a clever form of framework, Aesop Rock has suggested that each individual song isn’t telling a singular story, but are information guides that you can jump to. It’s encouraged that you read/listen to it all, but there is no commitment to each piece. Along with music videos that find people wandering a forest, following the neon glow of a mystical rabbit, this is one of those albums that is so wonderfully odd, enjoyable, and finds excitement in the seemingly ordinary world that we inhabit.

The listener is about to enter “The Spirit World,” a place where anything can happen. Aesop Rock cleverly begins the whole thing with a friendly “Hello from the Spirit World.” Unlike everything that’s to follow, it feels more like an introduction, preparing the listener for whatever lies ahead. While this was the last song that he recorded, it feels like the perfect place to start, allowing everything to follow to have that anticipation. Even through the spoken word nature, it presents details that are compelling. How did this person survive? What exactly are we preparing for? So much mystery lies in those descriptions as if the initiation of a journey. 

Because of this, the first song that carries the ominous melody that sounds like trudging through the darkness to work. There’s a mystery as it transitions, leading the listener into “The Gates,” which is metaphorically a starting point. Now that you have your guide, prepare to listen along, and survive. With that said, Aesop Rock doesn’t take long to fill this world with his dexterous handle of the dictionary, adding images that provide brilliant creations:

 I was at the gates

Ram's legs, my pizza black, my plants dead

My planet X, I might bleed green

I'm what's under the uncut chia seed

I'm what, what, what, what from the guillotine

A little flea and tick, a little fever dream

As far as introductions go, this is a dizzying one that only goes deeper into the crazy concepts, finding him mixing mystical creatures with descriptions of the forest. He talks about how he’s unable to contact the outside world, becoming immersed in this strange new landscape that seems to have a little bit of everything. He even takes time to talk about his supplies, which include instant rice and paper towels. The way that he raps has a lulling effect, managing to take the listener into a bit of a trance. It swirls so much that you may miss a line or two, admiring how dense his vocabulary is and how he sounds like he could talk his way out of any encounter. It’s encouraging, and the exact pep-talk you need to kick things off.

The Spirit World isn’t one that necessarily kicks things off right away but starts off at a cabin. With “Button Masher,” he raps about creating a homemade spaceship and blasting off into space. One of the first major highlights comes with “Dog at the Door,” which paints the paranoia of the outside world, wondering what the dog is barking at. It’s here that we get our first sense of any intrusive elements. As he sits there, he contemplates amid the whooshing sound of wind:

Uh, it's probably a cat

Might be a guy with an ax

Might be a trap, shit, it's probably a trap

Might be a possum in the trash

It's probably a trap

This type of detail is what’s reflective throughout the rest of the album. With “Gauze” it finds him moving out into the world, finding things like “Crystal Sword” and “Boot Soup” emerging from this experience. There is this sense of resourcefulness emerging that the further into this that Aesop Rock goes, the more confident he becomes in his lyrics, finding spirituality on songs like “Holy Waterfall” even as songs like “Sleeper Car” suggest that he’s growing paranoid, finding a creaking production kicking in and potentially upsetting his journey. The world that he paints is horrifying, but thankfully the songs that he created are so much fun to dance along with.

Another high point on the album is “Jumping Coffin,” which encourages the listener to let in the strange forces outside. With the jumpy beat, he begins to embrace the weirdness on the second half of the album, even mixing up his references in clever ways that find the worlds of military, classic cinema, and the bible emerging into one strange new concoction. 

Hand-drawn map cross over, cross back

Calling from the flight deck, I collect dog tags

Tall grass, asphalt, or salt flat

It's all jazz like an alphabet to Saul Bass

Bratty to the basic anatomy of a death stare

Passing through the old Manhattan, ectoplasm everywhere

Pack a second teddy bear, I'm headed for the panic

Take a second for some bacon, take his head off when in transit

I don't coexist, I don't exist

Even J.C. miss him with the loaves and fish

That is what’s enjoyable about this album. Every song is a chance to embrace a mix of adventure and nerdiness. It helps that Aesop Rock has this ability to keep his flow winding, continually spiraling into the air and leaving the viewer in awe as he manages to do some of the more clever word association. He encapsulates fears alongside character development and finds ways to may every reference hold a deeper weight. At a certain point, you just want to give into The Spiritual World because you want to see what else he’ll be able to make up from the top of his head. He’s a natural-born storyteller, and what he does here is incredible.

By the time of the closer “The Four Winds,” there is an overwhelming relief for the listener. Aesop Rock begins to slow down, finding clarity starting to become more apparent. It’s encouraging how he points out our survival. Even if every song stands on its own, there is something impressive about taking it as a whole. Even if this is a guidebook, one could argue that you need a thesaurus to understand just what transpired. It’s not the songs weren’t clear in their intent, able to be distinguished from each other. It’s just that on a first listen the whole thing is overwhelming, doing an excellent job of painting a picture.

When I think about what this album does right, I think about the recent Clipping album. While both Aesop Rock and Daveed Diggs are skilled rappers with impressive lyricism and flow, I come away appreciating “Spirit World Field Guide” more not necessarily because it has the better production, but because it feels more realized. Part of my issue with “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” was that they were too blunt in its storytelling approach. You were taken from A to B in ways that I found underwhelming. With Aesop Rock, it feels like there are details within details, and you are in awe of how he came up with everything.

I know it’s not fair to compare the two albums since they’re aiming for different intents (Clipping’s sound design is much more interesting), but it explains how using supernatural premises can produce two different results. If you want one that is direct, go with Clipping. If you want to feel like someone created their own world to the point that it feels like even the brand of shoes he wears impacts the story, then go with Aesop Rock. 

With that said, “Spirit World Field Guide” may be a bit too much. At 21 tracks, it does reach points where everything is moving at such a manic pace that you’re growing tired, dizzy. As a whole experience, it may be a bit too much at even an hour. However, if one wants to experience the supernatural rap on a track by track level, it may actually be brilliant, rewarding keen ears who can find the complexity of the lyrics improving your overall adventure. It’s eclectic and keeps the brain active, finding the search for one’s own creative personality shining through. In that way, it’s a downright encouraging experience.

I really like the idea of “Spirit World Field Guide” even if I still think that it’s overlong. As a rap album, it’s very impressive how he manages to keep that energy up for 21 tracks, shifting his flow just enough to keep you intrigued with the incredible detail, emerging from curious corners of the imagination. It feels like one destined to grow on the listener, finding the deeper study of emotion and struggle shining clearer upon relistens. For now, it’s another welcome concept album that makes 2020 less boring and more importantly, easier to navigate during a time when the pathway may not always seem clearest.