Over the past few years, Esh & The Isolations has become a favorite over here at Allston Pudding. Just over a year ago, we premiered his album Nowhere, To Be Found, and we covered his debut Idiot Fingerz way back in 2020. The indie/rap hybrid artist is keeping busy, forming a new duo Grief Club, with the artist Andrew (not me), a UK-by-way-of-Philly rapper. Their debut collaborative album, Good Mourning, is out today, and we are proud to premiere it!

Esh’s music has always been darkly self-reflective, as he opens himself up to show his raw inner soul, in keeping with the “Isolations” tag. With Grief Club, this side of Esh is only even more realized. Good Mourning is an album built on, well, grief. The two artists have been friends for a long time, but they built this collaboration out of grief, after both men lost their respective fathers to cancer around the same time. This album is catharsis for the pair, allowing them to channel their pain and anger into something more productive and enriching. Creatively, it could be mentioned in the same realm as Mount Eerie’s A Crow Looked At Me, in that you can hear grief slowly wash into acceptance across the album’s runtime. 

The record kicks off hot, with the short and aptly-titled mission statement “The Intro To A Group Called Grief Club,” but the songs get moody quickly. “I Guess I’m Alive” has a nice choir-like harmony that contrasts a droning beat in the chorus, and “All Blue” comes off like a true resilient ballad. Immediately following that is the album’s rawest song, “We Sang Blackbird,” with Andrew recalling his father’s last days. It’s touching and heartbreaking, as we are transported into the emotional release the artist is going through. Elements of grief permeate the lyrics across many of these songs, and sometimes without the tongue-in-cheek humor that usually accompanies Esh’s music. 

But there is fun to be had too – especially in the album’s back half. Tracks nine through eleven all have features, and they’re all much livelier than those on the front half. “Mournings,” which features NAHreally, might have the best pure rapping on the album, and “Fabergé Egg,” with Juan Duece and Jesse the Tree, is the most fun song across the tracklist. In other tunes, even the more forlorn ones, there’s unexpected lyrical shoutouts to things like Sum 41 and Sprockets. The two men sometimes can’t help themselves but put a few little fun quirks into these otherwise despondent songs. 

All of the production on the album was handled by Esh, who specializes in minimalistic but effective beats. “Egg” is bolstered by a great beat, just as “Out For Me” (with AJ Suede) is aided by funky bass and a well-placed vocal sample. “Same Old Room” is in the same boat – a livelier tune assisted by catchy rhythms. But the album is really about the duo at the heart of Grief Club and what they’re going through. Most songs see them collaborate and play off each other, never more effective than in the quick intro where they trade individual lines. “All Blue” sees Esh mostly alone, just as “We Sang Blackbird” is predominantly all Andrew. In the other songs, even the more emotional ones, the two men play off each other sounding just like the old friends they are. And we can be thankful for a friendship that can produce such collaborative growth as Mourning. 

Good Mourning is out today via Fake Four records, and can be streamed and purchased below!