A common theme throughout the revealing of Aesop Rock‘s upcoming album, The Impossible Kid, has been therapy. Whether its through dissecting his own brain in the “Rings” video or seeking help through sessions with an animated bear, the Rhymesayers signee has consistently laid his heart and mind out for the world to discover with him.
On his newest effort, Aesop hones in on the topic of his latest dose of therapy: his relationships with his brothers. “Blood Sandwich” starts with a vivid depiction of a baseball game his younger brother is playing in when he’s 7. It’s his first game ever, but it eventually gets spoiled by the head coach killing a gopher that keeps popping up in the outfield — no one really wanted to play after that. He continues that while he loves both his older and younger brother, he hasn’t talked to him in a while. He then shares a time when his older brother lightly threatened death if he couldn’t go to a concert. Like many angry teenagers, the death threat didn’t last long and he went about his business.
These stories aren’t really anything abnormal of a middle-aged kid — watching the actions of older and younger siblings and learning from them. But they’re specific, and more importantly, they’re specific to Aesop. They remind him of the relationships he’s lucky to have with his brothers — despite not talking to one in a couple months — so he picks up the phone an gave his older brother a ring. On this episode, “Blood Sandwich” began as a therapy session, and by the end, we were able to see the positive result from the reminiscing.
Watch the video above, and pre-order The Impossible Kid due out April 29.
