Decoding the Echo

Upon viewing just one picture, it is plain to see Paul Barman is not a prototypical emcee. His unassuming physical stature, free-flowing curly hair, and consistently mystical costumes stray pretty far from what is generally deemed acceptable in hip-hop culture. Barman is completely aware of this, so instead of pretending to be something that he is not, he remains unabashedly himself and embraces his unrelenting quirkiness. This formula has worked like a charm as Barman’s screwball flows and gut-busting lyrics have garnered him quite the cult following. In addition to his cult fandom, hip-hop legends like Roots’ drummer Questlove and the collective known as Deltron 3030 have taken notice of Barman’s immense talent and have worked with him frequently throughout his career. So coming off the longest hiatus of his career, it would appear Barman has to reestablish himself to a lot of his old friends within the hip-hop community, but with just one glance at the tracklist of his latest project, (((echo chamber))), you can clearly see his name remains cemented in their brains. 

The album opens up with the subtle, yet groovy title track. This slow burner perfectly opens up the album with a great blend of absurdist humor and critiques of modern society. This theme continues into the next track, “(((race))).” Barman uses this sparkling and beautiful beat to propel his encompassing rant on white hypocrisy in modern society. This track will have you bursting out laughing one moment, only to be sadly lamenting in our world’s corruption just a couple seconds later. While this record starts out rather odd, it only grows more absurd as it goes along. “(((happy holidays)))” sees Paul rapping over a contorted version of the Christmas classic “Sleigh Ride.” Mark Ronson’s production and Barman’s drunken flow on this track were just intricate enough to make it a triumphant laugh instead of a cheesy mess. “(((Hairy Moth Owl pt. 2)))” is an extremely eccentric and hard to decode word salad that is sure to enthrall hip-hop fans and neutrals aline. Lastly, “(((Leapfrog)))” sees Paul spewing out lyrics so spastically it almost feels as if he’s in a race against the beat.

While dense and extremely idiosyncratic, (((echo chamber))) is a glorious return for MC Paul Barman. His charming persona and off-the-wall pop culture references are so sharp throughout the entire tracklist that it can be incredibly hard not to smile at least a couple times while listening to this project. And believe me, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t want more of that in their life.