Anticon labelhead, Brendon Whitney, aka Alias, has stirred up attention with his fifth full length, Fever Dream. Whereas his last LP, Resurgam, featured more guest vocalists with melodies taking the spotlight, Fever Dream explores more atmospheric territories while serving as a reminder of his excellent beat production technique.

Whitney starts the album off with spaced-out beats and heavy reverb applied to vocal samples in “Goinswimmin.” In “Wanna Let It Go,” he follows up on this feel by washing out R&B vocals in a dominating chunky synth melody.

Pushing into a moodier soundscape, Whitney puts choppier beats on the plate with “Revl is Devad” and switches it up with a drop that introduces deeper vocals that add to the previously placed echoing samples that carry the melody along. “Dahorses” builds up with steady cymbals pulling forward through playfully arranged beat compositions full of hooks. Following are the lovely lady vocals in “Lady Lambin” that drift lightly on top of grounding percussion, which lead into the crisper, broken beats and soulful vocals of “Talk in Technicolor.”

Whitney refocuses on building the whimsical atmosphere with heavy reverb on the title track, “Fever Dreamin’”—the droniest track on the album. Toward the end, “Sugarpeeee” features a grab bag of whimsical vocals paired with melodies that flutter away as “Wrap” brings it all together finally in a neat little package that is Whitney’s tripped out hip hop soundscape full of ambience and left turns.

In this full length, Whitney’s take on hip hop, which touches on downtempo, ambient dub and R&B, is ultimately successful in finding new sounds that work. Whether you’re a fan of left-field electronic music or LA beat scene styles, Fever Dream is worth taking the moment to let Whitney guide you through his beat driven dreamscape.

Alias’s Fever Dream was released August 30th by Anticon.

• Tag: alias, anticon, Audio, beat, fever dream, friends of friends, Hip Hop, leftfield, Reviews