A new EP release from Adam Baker delivers quite a personal approach in the form of a unique breed of honesty and a warm but expansive and experimental songwriting approach that blends indie rock, pop, singer-songwriter, folk, and more all rolled up into one EP that has a way of creating its own atmosphere and delivers a lush personality and character along with it.
The Self Control EP has a way of being very descriptive lyrically a lot of the time and that lets you paint pictures in your head as the song lyrics come from personal inner thought and recollection, and they have a way of pulling you out of wherever you are and put you into these places that are described in the song.
The layers of textures used throughout this record include some juicy synth and key work, amazing acoustic and electric guitar blends, and vocals that come through and have a slightly animated undertone but do an amazing job of conforming to the character of the music in a way.
This was a bit experimental in its tonalities and I really enjoyed that because that sort of expansive feel is part of the aesthetic of the record.
Again, this was very honest and descriptive so by the time the EP is over you have to snap yourself back into reality simply because these songs are so full-bodied and get pretty detailed.
The combination of acoustics and electrics, and digital and natural instrumentation is such an amazing sound to me. It's all balanced out super well and the production of these songs walks the line between a slightly lo-fi tone and one that has a great little polish on it as well.
With all this amazing soundscape, textures, atmosphere, and color going on in the record, what grabs you is the honest and personal approach lyrically because it feels like these are the kinds of songs that are written to let emotion and feeling out.
You get an idea of the bravery that it takes to write songs like this and release them out into the world because he's letting so much out in one shot.
To me, it feels like a lot or all of these songs must have been cathartic for the artist to write and release but for the listener, it can be super relatable as well.
This is mostly because a lot of us have certain kinds of feelings and emotions that are part of our lives and we go through different kinds of struggles and thoughts but not all of us can articulate that into words let alone words and music so when you hear something like this you connect with it a lot.
I feel like this is part of the beauty when it comes to a record like this one. Just being able to grab and hold on to those words and the way that they're performed.
You understand them. You know that they come from someplace genuine.
This was a pretty in-depth EP and all of that was soaked in from only three tracks.
I would suggest listening to this full EP so you can get the entire understanding and piece together the songs as I feel like they are indeed interconnected with each other.
Also listening to this record with headphones on is one of the best ways to truly soak it in as a lot is going on in the ethers of some of these songs and see how this whole thing affects you.
Dive into this record and remember where you heard it first.
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