JESSE THE TREE x MOPES rise again with WORM IN HEAVEN!

Tree is risen! WORM IN HEAVEN, the second full-length collaboration between emcee JESSE THE TREE and producer MOPES, is out now on Strange Famous Records! 

Pre-order the album on Vinyl LP / CD / Cassette or grab the limited edition GRIM TREE-PER Pocket T-Shirt here

Digital downloads are available at the SFR Bandcamp here

Three years after they fused forces for their SFR debut album PIGEON MAN, the Rhode Islanders return with 14 slabs of their signature mellow magma & a flock of friends to keep the flow going. 

Special guests include Strange Famous label boss Sage Francis, indie rap legend Slug (of Atmosphere), long-time Tree collaborators Onry Ozzborn (Grayskul / Dark Time Sunshine) and Andrew (sleepingdogs), labelmate BlackLiq, and an impressive roster of underground vets including K-the-i???, Fatboi Sharif, Defcee, and ToadStool! 

Words from the duo on their resurrection and ascension: 

MOPES:

Pigeon Man felt like a warm-up to us, so while Jesse and I started working on Worm In Heaven soon after PM dropped, we wanted to be sure to take our time making it. That approach paid off, and we feel like we’ve grown a lot in the time between albums. 

JESSE: 

The release of Pigeon Man left us feeling like we had some good creative momentum, and we had a lot of ideas about what kind of a sound we wanted to capture. The process of making PM brought us closer as people and as collaborators, so by the time we got to working on Worm in Heaven, we had a good sense of each other stylistically. 

Mopes is my guy, and a dear friend. Our personal relationship makes the album creation process more human, and allows us both to be more open-minded. He’s such a talented producer and has a great ear for sounds and composition, for making the beats feel larger than life. His style challenges me to step outside my comfort zone, because on other projects I often opt for more subdued, mellow production. 

MOPES:

Jesse and I are also very active with other projects, so we wanted Worm In Heaven to stand out and have its own sound. 

JESSE:

Lots of life happens in between albums. It can be hard to find time to really lock in with writing, to make time to go to the studio after work. This can lead to overthinking a lot of shit, which can create roadblocks on the path to finishing a project. Pigeon Man felt like, boom, let’s do this. And we did. Worm in Heaven felt like an uphill battle at times. In a good way, though. Somehow having to work harder to get where we wanted to be kept me going. 

MOPES:

I also wanted Jesse to have more solo songs this time around, so he could flex his writing ability and display his range. And he absolutely shines. 

JESSE: 

The album has some familiar themes, but is a bit scatterbrained too. So am I, so that feels right. There are songs about family, songs about basketball, lots of life observations. 

Mopes’ production does a very good job of drawing you towards a feeling or a memory. Like with the song “Like Mike” – as soon as I heard the beat I knew I wanted to write about hoops, watching games with my dad, which is one of my favorite things in the world to do. Mopes is a badass. 

I started writing this album around the same time I got a job as a mental health therapist. So l feel like that experience weaved its way into some of what I was feeling and learning. 

The album title is borrowed from a song by an artist called Protomartyr. A really beautiful song. These lyrics from it really inspired me:

I am the worm in heaven /

Remember me, how I lived /

I was frightened /

Always frightened /

I did exist, I did /

I was here, I am /

And what I left behind /

Never be the simple kind 

In the end, of course, we were just trying to make a good hip hop record. I didn’t want to lose that core goal in all the other things I’m trying to write about or reflect on or convey. It felt important to remember that we can just have fun, and I don’t always have to use darkness or depth to figure shit out in a song. 

We’re very fortunate to have some really killer guests on the album, ranging from close friends to artists that I admire a lot. They all add so much to the project and make their songs feel whole. One of the coolest parts of all of this is connecting with someone to build a song. And then it lasts forever. That is a very special thing. 

Thank you to everyone who’s tuned in over the years. I hope to keep going as long as I can. I feel very lucky that music is a part of my life where I can find peace, share stories, and make friends that remain. 

Shoutout to all my loved ones who keep me going. To Strange Famous Motha Fuckin Records. And thank you everyone. I hope you dig.

Pre-order the album on Vinyl LP / CD / Cassette or grab the limited edition GRIM TREE-PER Pocket T-Shirt here

———-

TRACKLIST

01 Dharma Bum
02 Hidden Temples feat. K-the-i??? & Fatboi Sharif
03 A Bad MFer feat. Sage Francis
04 Like Mike
05 Death of Vanity
06 Supernatural Disasters feat. Slug 
07 Condition Report feat. andrew
08 Doris Burke feat. Onry Ozzborn
09 Righteous! feat. BlackLiq & ToadStool
10 Anima 
11 Secret Recipes feat. Defcee
12 Origami
13 Starship
14 Frankenstein 

All songs written and performed by Jesse the Tree, except where noted
All songs produced by Mopes
Mixed and Mastered by Mopes
Front cover photo by Tim Fish
Back cover artwork by Pulp Prints
Layout & design by Storm Davis