''Shrines'' is the fourth studio album by American hip hop group Armand Hammer. It was released via Backwoodz Studioz in 2020. The album's cover is a photograph of a NYPD police officer about to tranquilize and capture the tiger

Ming of Harlem Ming was a tiger that became notable when he was found living in an apartment in Harlem, New York City, United States, in October 2003. Ming, approximately three years old at the time of his capture, lived semi-openly with his owner, Antoine Yate ...

Background

Billy Woods and

Elucid Chaz Hall, better known by his stage name Elucid (often stylized as E L U C I D), is an American rapper and record producer from New York City. He has been a member of Armand Hammer, Cult Favorite, Lessondary, Nostrum Grocers, and Small Bills. E ...

toured Europe as Armand Hammer in 2019. While in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, they started writing a song titled "Bitter Cassava" and made demos. They recorded the song after they got back to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Once a few things were figured out, they started work on ''Shrines''.

Critical reception

Eden Tizard of '' The Quietus'' stated that "''Shrines'' sees a new kind of clarity takes shape, a departure from 2018's monolithic ''

Paraffin Paraffin may refer to: Substances * Paraffin wax, a white or colorless soft solid that is used as a lubricant and for other applications * Liquid paraffin (drug), a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and for medical purposes * Alkane ...

''." He added: "Where production there was thick and volatile like boiled tar, ''Shrines'' is comparatively spacious, the density of the bars even more pronounced." Tom Breihan of ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' described ''Shrines'' as "an album about people trying to build utopias on perilous and unstable piles of garbage." He stated that "Armand Hammer take in the poison-cloud existential joke of a world around them, and they answer that joke with images as poetic as the tiger at the window."

Track listing

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2020 albums Armand Hammer (music group) albums Albums produced by Earl Sweatshirt Albums produced by Kenny Segal