Today, we’re blessed with the opportunity to retreat into nature with the help of British singer-songwriter Jolé. His recently released EP, titled Silver Lake after the area near Los Angeles of the same name, is a serene stroll through the pine-scented forests of California, where perhaps a light mist kisses your cheeks and a fresh breeze revives the soul.
For the burgeoning musician, this EP captures that feeling of when you’re far away from a loved one and wished they were there with you, experiencing all the sights and sounds that so enrich your own life. As Jolé recalls:
“This EP came out of a trip to LA in August of last year. I spent 6 weeks with 2 friends, writing, travelling and living in a studio apartment. With all the amazing moments that came with the trip I also missed my friends and loved ones back home and was reminded how grateful I am to have them in my life. I had written my first album 2 years previous to this so musically I was writing very differently. Having written a lot for other people in the lead up to the trip, these songs were a bit of an experiment to see where I was going with my own songs.“
We’ve already introduced you to the EP’s first track ‘Alpine Green’, a theme which we hear throughout Silver Lake, and so we’ll head on into sophomore song ‘Pictures Of You’. Of all the songs on the EP, this one will sound most familiar to listeners of Jolé‘s self-titled album, due to the immediacy of the plucked guitar strings, layered vocals and cooing melodies. Swimming in nostalgia, ‘Pictures Of You’ is all about an appreciation of the little things.
Next up is ‘Still‘ featuring a mesmerizing vocal duet with Marie Gallo. For us, this is the song that so keenly represents that connection between two people, as Jolé and Marie sing in harmony about their longing for an absent loved one. Over the raw lo-fi guitar, the emotion of both voices amplifies the beauty of words such as, “just like a breath of air, in the alpine greens, I can always find you there.”
The EP then closes out with ‘Tie Dye Sky’, an optimistic voyage through thoughts of possibility in which Jolé projects all the “could”s of the future. The jovial acoustic strings, Americana affects, warmly produced vocals and sparkling synths leave Silver Lake on a high.
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