7 Miles from the Sun, 7 Miles from the Sun EP

I was needing something a little laidback and trippy to just unwind a bit. It had been a busy, slightly stressful couple of weeks for me lately, when I came across 7 Miles from the Sun’s self-titled EP. It was just five tracks, but five tracks of slightly acoustic, spacey, instrumental noodling with sparse, light vocals and a creative use of keyboards, effects, and samples to add texture. The vibe of the music caught my attention more than anything, because the calm relaxed atmosphere of songs like “Intermission” and “Sleeping Dragon” reflected where I wanted my state of mind to be.

As I did some more research on these guys, I found out that 7 Miles from the Sun is really only two guys, Ryan Mason on vocals and guitars and Chris Folmer on background vocals and synthesizer. The full band sound they achieved was basically them playing all the instruments. I was particularly impressed with how Ryan’s vocals complemented the music. He sings in a light, humming whisper, weaving in and out of the songs, touching a part here and there, never too obtrusive or too sparse for what the song called for.

The EP is not entirely without its criticisms, though. There were parts where the playing felt a little too loose, even for the laidback style that the band’s about, particularly with the drumming. Nothing that the ol’ click-track or quantize button couldn’t have tightened up, and it could have used a better touch of mastering to really thicken it up and give it a little extra punch.

That said, I listened to the EP several times, and along with a bourbon and Coke, it definitely took the edge off.