Maryland recording artist Ty Fontaine following up his previous EP YUHEAME from this summer with a 7th one. Breaking out in 2019 off the strength of his debut EP Waiting on Ascension, he would go on to follow this up with the full-length debut We Ain’t the Same alongside a couple of mixtapes & 3 more EPs, the previous being The Revive preluding a sequel to his Internet Money Records-backed debut mixtape Ascension & more recently Black Truck Life in the spring. But with winter coming up in a few weeks, Ty’s capping off his 2023 by putting out 264.

“Catch My Breath” is an irresistibly catchy opener with a synth-based instrumental that almost gives me a bit of a Kanye influence telling his significant other to simply give him a minute whereas “D.O.S. (Drugs Over Sex)” featuring Joony, Summrs & TTM Dawg displays a back-&-forth chemistry from the 4 over a trippy instrumental choosing substances over intercourse. “Croak” works in more hi-hats & a psychedelic loop talking about being on a roll as of late that is until “Wetty” brings the synthesizers back together breaking down that this bitch knows what’s up.

On the other hand, “Fashion” featuring Lil Dre gives off euphoric atmosphere to the beat calling their swag crazy as fuck just before “Motel 69” is it acoustic trap hybrid talking about how it’s the game & not the same. “Giving Everything” featuring Hardrock has my second favorite guest performance on the entire EP with a moody trap instrumental asking where you at when they need you, but then “Charge it to the Game” strips the drums singing his ass off for a couple minutes.

The penultimate song “Sandbox” has my favorite Summrs feature throughout 264 continuing to keep the drums out of the picture so both of them can talk about coming out of the sand & last but not least, the title track ties up the 20-minute listening experience by keeping things stripped back sonically explaining how long it took him to making the project totaling up to 11 days.

So we got a trilogy of EPs from Ty this year & the last one here has not only already made it’s case as the best of the 3, but is also further indication to me that things are only gonna get bigger for him 2024-onward because 264 could very well be my 2nd favorite body of work from him behind Ascenscion. Sure only 2 of the 4 featured stick the landing, that’s not to say that the production or Ty’s own abilities as a performer aren’t continuing to improve.

Score: 3.5/5

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