Siren Song.

Before Releasing His Solo Debut This Summer, Picnictyme Drops a Teaser Single.

Ever since PPT broke up in 2008, local hip-hop producer Picnictyme has been teasing the release of a solo album.

And, he swears, the release is still coming. Soon, too. Hopefully by the end of the summer, he says.

He’s just been distracted — first by a still-unreleased collaboration with Astronautalis called Max Moon; then by Erykah Badu, who recruited him as part of The Cannabinoids; and, most recently, by A.Dd+, whose breakthrough When Pigs Fly release was solely produced by Picnic. He readily admits as much.

But he’s getting closer to finishing it. At this point, he guesses, his debut release, called Sea Monsters, is 60 percent completed. Hence the late-summer release.

To buy himself some more time, Picnic, born Richard Escobedo, will one song at a time release a collection of tracks he’s bunching together under the banner of Sirens. The first of these songs is a track called “Then Dust,” which Picnic tells Central Track is the very first song he completed once he started working on his solo project.

Explains Picnic of his new songs: “It’s based on the saying, ‘There’s always more fish in the sea.’ There’s also sea monsters in that bitch. I want the music to sound like you’re swimming in slow motion underwater. That’s the vision for the whole thing.”

“Then Dust” certainly boasts that sheen — as it should.

“It sets the tone for the whole release,” Picnic explains of the song that features his falsetto singing, his quick-paced raps and some spoken word found footage.

It’s just the tip of the iceberg as pertains to the new release, though. Picnic says The Burning Hotels and A.Dd+ will both appear on Sea Monsters, along with some other special guests he says he can’t yet announce.

“I am doing a lot,” Picnic says of his busy schedule. “But I’ve committed to this. It’s something that’s slowly been in the works for the past two years. I’m very committed to doing this.”

Just don’t expect a party record, he says.

“A lot of the songs, I’m not even structuring them for live shows or crazy energy,” he says. “[Sea Monsters] is a mellow record and more for easy listening.”

Listen to “Then Dust” below and see what he means.