Gee Slab has been continuously prolific for the past year and some change. If you haven’t heard the Because I Can EP or the “Hand Grenades” single, do so at your earliest convenience. You’ll also want to check out the Six One Tribe track “10,000 Hours“, the Highlight Tapes feature, his YouTube channel and his umbrella brand Believe in New Opportunity. Most importantly, you’ll want to queue up “Load,” the first single from the forthcoming EP The First Afterthought and, possibly, some insight into what the new full-length album will sound like that’s slated for release later this year.

The track, produced by Namir Blade, continues to show the progress and evolution of Gee Slab’s sound. His flow is more confident than ever and filled with his signature clever and boastful turn of phrases. Blade’s production is a stellar fit that swells and breaks beyond the standard “set it and forget it” backing beat. On the whole, the track leverages instrumentation that sneaks up on you through the duration of the listen; eventually giving way to a dose of lush strings.

If Gee Slab’s prior output is any indication, there’s bound to be more surprises coming our way over the coming months. “Load” is a helluva sneak peek at things to come but when it comes to Gee Slab, we’ve really no idea what may be coming. Fortunately, this is the first break in the dam and we’re looking forward to the flood of new music.

The working idea behind the songs on themes was the idea of sound being used to a visual, ostensibly cinematic end (hence its title). The music is meant to conjure up memories that may or may not have happened, feelings of longing for something you didn’t realize you had until it was gone. These songs are meant as a sort of catharsis for the trauma we have from the sheer passage of time.

The debut release (as far as I know) of Rat Best Friend is a two song offering entitled themes. With a runtime of approximately five minutes, it would seem like it’s not a lot to go on but sometimes two songs is all you need to conjure a great deal of excitement. While brief, the tracks manage to seamlessly blend together ambient soundscapes, hints of shoegaze, a dash of post-rock and plenty of dreamy film sequences. “Theme Two” in particular creates a vast wash of sound that is extremely difficult not to put on constant repeat. Looking forward to more.