Album Review: Sisyphus - Sisyphus

The self-titled, debut full-length studio effort from alternative hip hop trio Sisyphus (formerly S/S/S) is a far more complex and storied beast than the unassuming, minimalist refrain of the album's first cut, Calm It Down, would lead you to believe – and not just in a purely aural sense.
The brainchild of Chicago-based rapper Serengeti, New York-based post-rock/alt-hip hop artist Son Lux and mid-2000s indie folk juggernaut Sufjan Stevens, Sisyphus' music – and new name – has its roots inextricably anchored in the work of visual artist Jim Hodges. Aside from providing the album art for this release, Hodges is apparently renowned for his considered, thought-provoking installations designed to make people feel like shit about mortality, probably. Not that any of that helps you. We're Australians and, with all due respect, who the fresh hell is Jim Hodges?
Luckily, there is plenty of sonic activity throughout these 11 tracks to keep you engaged all on their own. The otherwise musically stark compositions are laced with glitchy weirdness (Rhythm Of Devotion, My Oh My), ethereal beauty (Take Me, Hardly Hanging On) and Easter egg-laden electronics wizardry (the entire damn album), while, vocally, the lyrical-spit gymnastics provided by Serengeti provide a welcome rhythmic counterbalance to the typically angelic, and frighteningly complementary, timbres of Stevens and Son Lux.
A lot happens on this record, and it won't please everyone. Slightly too indie to be mainstream hip hop and too hip hop to be mainstream indie (ignore the voice telling you that phrase doesn't make sense), it is nonetheless a rewarding, atmospheric journey that, not entirely unlike the boulder forever waiting to be pushed uphill by the album's namesake character of legend, will beg to be undertaken day after day for a long time to come – except this isn't even close to cruel and unusual punishment.