Tom Freeman—the Brooklyn-based British artist and musician known as Covey—has had a weird year. He did a Tour To Nobody, playing shows in rural locations across the American northeast for, well, nobody. He recorded the audio and video, turning the audio into a record, Tour To Nobody. He created a Tik Tok account, via which he began sharing the figurines which would adorn the cover of his next LP. In a matter of weeks, over 1 million followers were tuning in to learn about (and swap theories concerning) the increasingly intricate semi-fictional universe Freeman is building through his music.

Enter Covey’s new full-length record, Class Of Cardinal Sin. The record’s cover features a diorama depicting what, at first glance, appears to be a simple class graduation photo, complete with a blackboard with white lettering at the front. Upon inspection though, the classmates are in disrepair. Some are missing limbs; others are casting satanist spells; and most have a human body beneath the head of a creature. Still, they’re dressed and arranged like students, grotesque and miserable.

The home, the class photo, the songs: these are all part of a network of synapses that comprise Class Of Cardinal Sin, refracted through Freeman’s acerbic, wrenchingly sharp storytelling. This storytelling is backed by major-key melodies realized on acoustic and electric guitars, bass and warbling keys, percussion that shifts from gentle to titanic. — Luke Ottenhof