Long before Makonnen Sheran caught Drake's ear, he was just like any other cooped-up kid with a Myspace account and a modest home-recording setup—making a series of profoundly strange warbling ballads and constantly reaching out to kindred spirits he encountered on the internet. One of those fellow weirdos was Eric Littmann, a New York-based musician recording as Phantom Power and Steve Sobs, who fielded an email from Makonnen in 2012 asking to collaborate. Even as Makonnen has rapidly become a household name, the two have continued working together as part of the loose Phantom Posse collective, whose latest collection Home was unceremoniously released on Bandcamp earlier this month.-=-=-=-

"She Gets Lonely", one of the record's three Makonnen-featuring tracks, is a highlight, if only for how Littman's production smooths out his inclinations toward warped and bizarre balladry. Makonnen warbles about looking for "a girl so [he] could love her," over swooning keyboard lines and drum production that's a whole lot more subdued than the kaleidoscopic Sonny Digital beats that populate his more radio-ready songs. And it's a reminder that a big part of what he does so well has more to do with his willingness to emote earnestly, wide-eyed and open-hearted, than it does with any number of big name producers or industry cosigns.