CLEVELAND, Ohio - Rodney Mynatt and Tommy Sheridan - also known as Smoke Screen - are versatile.

Since their first show at Peabody's in 2007, you could find the hip-hop duo headlining an underground bill one night and opening for a sold-out, confetti-filled Girl Talk show for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction week the next. In fact, directly after that gig, they hustled over to Grog Shop to perform, then DJ a late set.

An evolving project exploring straightforward rap, alternative hip-hop and electronics, they've shared the stage with acts like Redman, Wiz Khalifa and Kid Cudi.

But since their 2013 EP, "Turquoise," the pair has been wrapped up in their own worlds, fleshing out solo work - Sheridan under the name Broken Keys and Mynatt as Mooke Da God, as well as the collaborative group effort, Smoke Noises, with fellow Cleveland MC, Ghost Noises.

Their new album, "Return to the Sun," marks their first full-length since 2010's "Imagination Beyond Illustration." Now, Smoke Screen is getting back to the basics. After releasing the album this Friday, they'll have a show the following night, 9 p.m., Saturday, July 15, at Cleveland Heights' Grog Shop, 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., with Mourning a BLKstar, Archie Green and DJ ESO.

"We realized we wanted to move forward, and just decided it was time to refamiliarize people with Smoke Screen," Sheridan says. "We've been busy, and everything else has been fun, but it's all been and working toward this."

On "Method," Smoke Screen dares you to think they don't have things down to a science. With sharp, confident command, "Return" can make the sparsest beats into the most menacing. Spinning their usual gritty Cleveland narratives with newfound touches of glam and polish, it's their biggest sound yet.

The video for their newest single, "Breakbeats and Bass," produced by Sheridan, combines footage of the band since they broke out a decade ago. They returned to work with Turnstyle Films, who also created their video for "Ice Cold Water," which received national attention.

"We grew up on stage," Sheridan says. "We spent the entirety of our 20s as Smoke Screen. We just turned 30, so it's wild to us to see that."

"Return" opens with the dark, hard-hitting track, "Eternal Flame" and doesn't let go of its larger-than-life, spacey landscapes.

"We definitely wanted to return to the true-to-form Smoke Screen," Mynatt adds. "We wanted to bring in parts of our first record - early '90s hip-hop, jazz influence. But there's another element of the album that's electronic and futurist and really heavy, and it's a total departure from that. But it all works well together with there being two of us and having us balance each other out. It's a true yin and yang."

It's also an homage to classic duos, Mynatt mentions, noting the recent passing of Prodigy of Mobb Deep.

"Without that group there'd be no us," he says.

Part of the existence of "Return" can be credited to France-based artist Uno Wa. Sheridan and Mynatt were working with him on his own song when they realized they were on the fast track to an album themselves.

The duo enlisted both Uno Wa and Z. Quiz for production on the album. The outsiders shake things up mid-album with the bright Uno Wa-produced "Less Is More" up against the in-your-face thump of Z. Quiz's help on "Adrenaline."

They also had the help of Cleveland ex-pat Connor Musarra. Mynatt had been in Los Angeles working with Musarra on his 2017 solo EP, "Glamorous," and he ended up lending a hand on Smoke Screen's "The Show" and "Good Blend."

"Connor has a distinguished and undeniable sound; it has its own identity immediately," Mynatt says. "Uno and Z. Quiz have a similar level of energy in their production style, while Tommy's production is smooth and helps to balance the record out."

They also tapped into another new Cleveland connection, Chad Fedorovich, who created the album's artwork.

"Return" does break new ground for the group. Mynatt and Sheridan took a DIY approach and recorded the album entirely on their own. Dominick Michele handled mixing and mastering.

"This was the first project where we took the engineering side of it," Sheridan says. "It was just the two of us working on this whole thing, aside from mastering by Dominick Michele. I had just moved and we'd made a lot of records in the old space. It brought out something entirely new."

Mynatt and Sheridan hope to continue touring, especially out west, which they call "uncharted territory for Smoke Screen."

"Return" itself is a roadmap to Cleveland and two artists growing up in the city. "Peabody's isn't there no more," they may rap on "The Show," but "Return" is an album by a band that hasn't for a second forgotten its roots.

"We've been fortunate enough to be able to do what we love and are passionate about for 10 years now," Mynatt says. "It was time to do something special and return back to the original elements that started it all for us."