Lazerbeak is one of the most prolific members of the Doomtree collective. As a beatmaker, Beak has contributed propulsive, neck-snapping production to Wale, P.O.S., Dessa, and almost every Doomtree project.

Now he is stepping into the spotlight with a sound of his own. Combining elements of indie rock, pop, and hip hop production, Legend Recognize Legend is bolstered by layers of keyboards, live strings, horns, drum breaks, and group vocals.

Beak wrote, arranged, and sang on the entire record, with contributions from his Doomtree cohorts and members of his former band, The Plastic Constellations (who toured with The Hold Steady and signed to Frenchkiss Records). On Legend Recognize Legend, you can hear evidence of Lazerbeak's musical history. It's got the polyrhythmic signature of a beatmaker, with layered breaks that create inventive, galloping cadences. However, the songs also feature the earnest, candid vocals that made The Plastic Constellations so disarming and infectious – winning them praise from media outlets as disparate as Pitchtodorks and Reader's Digest.

Legend Recognize Legend is not a calculated fusion record though, and it charts a clear course apart from Beak's past projects. On "Salt and Sea," he embarks on a deep-sea adventure about learning love's lessons through hardship; fittingly, the track features his wife's backup vocals. On "Let It Go," he sings about meeting death without fear, and about the future on the horizon. But for all the weighty themes, the record isn't a sad one. Legend Recognize Legendis about the way the world is, the way it ought to be, and the belief that the divide between the two isn't so impassable.