New(ish) EPs from Ragged Lines, Fun While You Wait, and The Values

I Have No Plan Here

I've written before about having to have some kind of spreadsheet or schedule to keep track of all the things I want to mention here. The way my mind works, though, taking the time to get organized and build schedules and enter stuff into spreadsheets or calendars just seems like a whole bunch of extra work. That, plus the fact that, every time I've ever tried something like that, new, shiny objects have come along to distract me and mess the whole thing up.

Anyway.

Here are a few EPs I've been meaning to mention for a couple of weeks now.

Ragged Lines, Red Lights, Your Ghost

Following the dissolution of his former band, Monterey, singer / guitarist Carter Henry began performing as Ragged Lines. That project expanded to a duo with the addition of Lucas Dalakian on bass and eventually grew to its current three-piece form when Matt Viani joined to play drums.

Earlier this month, Ragged Lines released their first proper EP in the form of Red Lights, Your Ghost. I spent a lot of time with the EP this week, and it's a truly impressive debut. All of the songs here are big, from the pop rock of "Rut" and "Red Eye" to the blues of "Warm Visions" to the swaying, almost 50s vibe of "She's Been Waiting."

Red Lights, Your Ghost is heartfelt and full of self-examination throughout, but the band and producer Erik Romero manage to make it rock.

Red Lights, Your Ghost is out now.



Fun While You Wait, Of Course

Freehold's Fun While You Wait released Of Course on September 1st. We premiered opening track "Yes / No" here; and, back then, I said that Fun While You Wait sound "like what you might get if Neutral Milk Hotel made pop love songs instead of songs about Anne Frank."

There is definitely an Elephant 6-ish organic feel to all of the songs here. The ukulele, Bruce Krywinski's trumpet, singer Devon Moore's vocals. There's a lightness that you'd expect on songs like the optimistic, you-and-me-against-the-world "Silver Linings" or the tropical feeling "Evergreens." But even on the more serious tracks like "Ghost Ship" and "Wolves," the arrangements allow Moore's voice to shine. "Wolves," especially, which goes out on a raucous outro would be something totally different -- heavier more jammy -- if it were more electrified. Here it has the feel of a kind of, I don't know, hootenanny? Is that a dumb word? Anyway, it's fun.

Of Course is out now.



The Values, The Values

Brooklyn's The Values released their latest, self-titled EP about two weeks ago. The band's sound centers on synths and the powerful, intertwining vocals of Mason Taub and Nathalie and Mel Escudero. The band draw on a disparate set of influences over the course of the EP.

Opener "Colors," for which the band recently released a Thomas Ignatius-directed video, has a new wave, 80s, synth-pop vibe; while "Hey Julia" is more in-line with what you'd hear today on SiriusXMU: mellow, slinky, soulful. "Polyester" feels like it's straight off of the cast album to a 70s Broadway, rock opera.

That last, theatrical, aspect is the theme that runs through the entire EP. The Values differ from a lot of what you hear coming out of the Brooklyn scene by virtue of their unselfconscious and refreshing theatricality. I've never seen The Values perform, but I can only imagine how that vibe translates to their live show.

The Values is out now.