The Hemlock Ernst project continues. For years, Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring has been recording fully credible indie-rap under his Hemlock Ernst alter-ego, and he’s about to release Studying Absence, his new full-length team-up with producer Icky Reels. We’ve already posted the lead single “Raised In The South” and the ELUCID collab “Remains.” Today, Herring hits us with another track that features a couple of his abstract and conceptual underground rap peers.

“Old Dead Dogs,” the latest Hemlock Ernst track, is a collaboration with New Jersey rap expressionist Fatboi Sharif and with veteran MC Beans. That’s Beans from Antipop Consortium, not Beanie Sigel, which would’ve been interesting. Beans is putting out Studying Absence on his Tygr Rawwk Rcrds, and Fatboi Sharif just released Brain Candy, his full-length team-up with Fat Tony and producer Steel Tipped Dove.

On “Old Dead Dogs,” Hemlock Ernst turns in a bouncy, imagery-heavy verse where he’s half-singing most of the time, which makes me wonder if we might see some fusion between Samuel T. Herring’s rapping and singing selves at some point. The spooky, clanking beat suits him nicely, and I like the contrasting chemistry between his delivery, Beans’ poetry-slam energy, and Fatboi Sharif’s playful-ghoul atonality. Check it out below.

Studying Absence is out 10/16 on Tygr Rawwk Rcrds.