Canadian producer Ryan Hemsworth is back with his first album since 2018’s Elsewhere and first for Topshelf Records. Numbskull, out October 21, cycles through trip-hop, electroclash, hyperpop, and rave, while first single “One Step” blends Southern rap, UK hardcore, and punk.
“With ‘One Step’ I started thinking about old Three 6 Mafia tapes, and some old crunchy 90s UK rave stuff,” Hemsworth explained in a statement. “I imagined this would probably only work with a rapper. But I started making more random friends around this time—someone I connected with and had been giving some production ideas to was Sarah [Tudzin] of Illuminati Hotties… I’m not sure why exactly because generally I would’ve sent her something more like her own project. But she jumped at it, and it made me realize this might be my approach with collaboration for Numbskull—only give people wild cards.”
In addition to Tudzin, the new album features Tegan and Sara, Nana Lourdes, Allie, and MSpaint. Hemsworth has yet to announce his own headlining tour for Numbskull but you can catch him supporting George Clanton in November.
Revisit Pitchfork’s review of Elsewhere.
Numbskull:
01 Vortex
02 One Step
03 I Missed You More [ft. Nana Lourdes]
04 Toy
05 No One Else [ft. MSpaint]
06 Never Learned [ft. Tegan and Sara]
07 Atypical [ft. Allie]
08 Winter Spring
09 A Display of Emotion
10 Breed
11 Break
12 Shifting and Turning
