Tomorrow, the great Chicago rapper Noname will come back with her much-anticipated new album Sundial. Today, another rapper who came out of Noname’s whole Chicago after-school poetry-slam scene has come back with a new project of his own. The energetic Chicago rapper Joey Purp has been missing in action lately; QUARTERTHING, his last proper album, came out nearly five years ago. Today, though, Purp returns with a new mixtape called Heavy Heart, Vol. 1.

Heavy Heart, Vol. 1 is a short record, just nine songs in 18 minutes. It includes “Candypaint” and “Outside,” two tracks that came out as one-off singles in 2021. (When he released “Outside,” Joey Purp announced an upcoming mixtape called UpLate, but it never came out.) Where “Candypaint” and “Outside” are both percussive, minimal, dance-influenced tracks, many of the new ones are jagged shards of Purp rapping over wailing soul samples, and the transitions, at least on first listen, are a little jarring. But Purp sounds refreshed and fired-up, and it’s great to hear him back in action. Stream Heavy Heart, Vol. 1 below.

Heavy Heart, Vol. 1 is out now on Loudsound/4NRecords.