Album Reviews: Easy Lover – Easy Lover EP

It’s been a popular trend to see two-man groups as of recent. Also, the upswing in the amount of dream pop has been in full effect for the better part of the past two years. Still, Easy Lover is trying to find a way to rise above the countless other acts in the scene. Singer Kali Holloway and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Wimmer seemingly had a fairly simple goal: let’s make good music. A dash of old sound and a pinch of new sound and we have Easy Lover’s self-titled EP.

Check out “End of the Season” below!

The Pros

The bite-sized introduction of Easy Lover is very sweet. Holloway’s vocals are seemingly stemming from a more old school styling, maybe based off of a lifetime of growing up with Motown and BeeGees records. She doesn’t adjust her style to what the scene’s reverbed-and-post-reverbed styling has been lately. Her ability is no sham either — there is no clamoring between an effect-absent vocal track and suddenly into an effect-laden vocal attack — her vocals sing through the clean channel 100% of the time.

Really, it’s vocally stunning with a very good effort from jam-master Wimmer. I’m not exactly sure how the song writing process comes through between these two (whether both lyrics and instrumentation are a dual effort or if Wimmer stays on his side of the court and Holloway enjoys her side) but there is a very nice marriage between the two. If that movie Once could have been reshot in Brooklyn, this would have been the perfect music to move that entire movie.

The Cons

The entire EP is relatively safe, with nothing extremely surprising — even with such a great vocal execution from Holloway. It seems as if she can belt out some ridiculous notes given the opportunity, but the music itself seems a tad limiting to her range. Then again, what would have definitely been interesting would be that combination of a sort of soul singer meeting the soundscaping of a dream popper. They are close, but they may not be looking in that direction… which is what is scary.

The dream pop and gaze scene is becoming less and less vibrant and more and more saturated. The last thing we need is for a talented duo like Easy Lover to fall into an abyss. Either take more chances with the instrumentation or take more chances with the vocals… or both.

The Verdict

The word is still out on these two. I would normally ship a duo like this to world’s end, as I’m a sucker for two-man bands, but there is an inevitable tide rising fairly quickly and will be hard to dodge unless you are packing something special. I see very shiny glimpses of what that intangible is for this group, but it’s yet to be fleshed out. Looking forward to the next release!