With another Atmosphere release out, it appears that they’ve grown from adolescent to adult, figuratively speaking. ‘The Family Sign’ continues on the same road as the group’s 2008 release, ‘When Life Gives You Lemons…’, with Ant’s layered production producing a live feel throughout the album through the dominant presence of piano keys. Although they’ve gotten even softer than previous efforts, the beautiful use of instruments make the album significantly more interesting, production-wise at least.

However, there’s a massive element missing, the lack of hip-hop beats found on previous albums really shows. The track “The Last To Say” misses heavy hitting drums or a bumping ‘hip hop beat’ completely, while Slug’s extraordinary flow leans only on a guitar-and piano-based production. Slug has always been a king lyrically, but on ‘The Family Sign’ the tracks don’t grab you by the throat as much as older tracks as “Try To Find A Balance” and “Always Coming Back Home To You” do. “Something So” is an exception, which is a beautiful reflection of how Slug expresses himself.