The funky, soulful hip-hop sound of The Roots has blended seamlessly with the alternative, new-wave pub-rock sound of Elvis Costello to produce one of the more exciting and out-of-left-field collaborations of the year in Wise Up Ghost.

The album as a whole refuses to fall under any organized genre, such as Costello’s typical rock and roll or The Roots’ usual hip-hop. The Roots provides Costello a new setting and framework, which allows him to bend his typically wordy lyrics towards rap.

The formative factor throughout the album is Questlove’s hip-hop drumbeats. Despite this connective tissue, the two musical experimentalists stay away from sticking to a specific style, even a disorganized one. Rather, as with most of their productions throughout their careers, The Roots and Elvis Costello spotlight substance.

As can be expected from these two legends, Wise Up Ghost focuses on the tumultuous relationship between man and world, a world in chaos and confusion. The heavy, dark poeticism of Elvis Costello meshed with the gloomy, sinuous strings of The Roots develop the ominous, almost hopeless mood of the album. The dim sentiment evoked by the sounds of the album culminates in the final two tracks, “Wise up Ghost” and “If I Could Believe.”

The album’s title song resembles the introduction to a James Bond movie, inducing feelings of danger or violence in the listener. The refrain of “Wise up Ghost,” “She’s pulling out the pin,” hearkens back to “(She Might Be A) Grenade,” another track on the album, only underscoring the foreboding emotional reaction The Roots and Costello were hoping for in their listeners. Costello also calls upon the listener to take action and do something about this world in turmoil in the chorus of the song, saying, “Wise up / When are you going to rise up?”

Following the call to arms of “Wise up Ghost,” “If I Could Believe” forces the listener to question whether or not this uprising can actually make a difference. Costello sings, “If I could believe two and two is five / Two wrongs make a right… / That might sound like prayers / If I could believe.” In other words, Costello is questioning his ability to believe that a solution is possible. If he forgets all that he has been taught and throws aside all common sense and logical thought, then perhaps he would be able to believe that his prayers will be answered.

“If I Could Believe” probably involves the fewest instruments on the album but makes plentiful use of Costello’s vocal capabilities. He serenades the listener over minimal back -up from The Roots, thus allowing the listener to focus on the lyrics of the song. This compositional decision only underscores the question posed by Costello: can we, as humans, solve the problems we’ve created?

Wise Up Ghost shows just how far The Roots and Elvis Costello can go with their musical talents. Costello had reign over the lyrical aspect of the album, while The Roots took control of the beats and sounds backing him up. While one can still hear the rock-punk preference of Costello, as well as the neo-soul or hip-hop preference of The Roots, the two manage to cooperate and collaborate flawlessly. Costello steers clear of his vibrato and tendency toward melodrama in order to mesh well with the drum stylings of Questlove and the rest of The Roots.

The tangy, modern, and instrument-heavy inclination of The Roots creates the perfect frame for the poetic lyrics and harsh, elegiac voice of Costello. What started off as a small joke made by Questlove on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” about making a song with Costello turned into an unexpected, yet unsurprisingly strong, album.