Joey Flats presents a blissfully smooth, emotional yet consistently enjoyable playlist with this latest project. Love Something is a short yet impressive collection, one that introduces an artist with a strong ear for music, a love for the art of writing and expressing genuine ideas and feelings, and a professional and skillful approach to production.
Without You as an opener presents a dreamlike jazz-soaked backdrop with a melodic driving vocal that pours notably intimate, honest and deeply personal sentiments into the process. It introduces the project with a fine balance between good rhythms, good vibes, and conceptual weight. You’re calmed yet intrigued, easily involved, and the rest of the EP feeds and effectively satisfies these conflicted feelings.
Step is even more revealing than the opener. A slightly more organic soundscape emerges, still the vibe is a pleasure to appreciate, and in among this – the leading vocal appears bare and genuine within the mix. This helps the soulful tones and the realness of the subject matter captivate and connect all the more-so.
Interlude lets the professional yet beautiful nature of this music, this instrumentation, shine brightly in its own right. The creativity and the production on the entire project is a total joy to have fill the room. The playlist is short but perfectly well catered to those evenings of isolation and reflection. You ponder the world, and you connect with the artist as he does so too. Interlude leads with that musicality, that instrumental strength, and woven in among this is a fittingly mellow and rhythmic vocal delivery that subtly moves things along.
The EP takes a turn for the melodically retro with Baby Girl – jazz-cafe vibes meet with classic pop to create something unexpected yet still in keeping with the aura of the collection. Following this, the rap vocal is clearly inspired by a more contemporary rap sound. The effects and the changing rhythm, the language – all of this appeals to the modern audience. The delivery is calm and genuine still though, and the backdrop undoubtedly raises the experience higher and keeps that thread of authenticity and originality alive and well.
At the penultimate moment, Celebration injects a shoulder-swaying groove and a softly entrancing vocal melody that uplifts and calms all at once. This feels more like a beach-side vibe, a few minutes of togetherness – a relevant mood to share, considering the title. The song stands out in its own way, for that brightness and optimism, but still you can hear those Joey Flats threads of character and intention. It works well, eclecticism is subtle but effective. Certain instrumental flickers add a touch of the organic to keep things real and engaging.
All of the tracks on this EP are reasonably short – the playlist is over and done with before you know it, but that simply leaves you keen to head back and listen through it all again. Outro is no exception at under two minutes in length, but it’s far from one to be skipped over. This closing piece is powerful, a clear-cut and confident vocal bursts into the room with purpose and depth. It’s a beautiful example of apparent spontaneity and that love for the art-form once again. The soundscape is gorgeous, a final few minutes of musical bliss and delicacy, and that vocal drive and these lyrics feel incredibly hopeful and mighty in the way they’re delivered. Unexpected again, but the perfect way to round things up.
There’s a humble nature to this whole playlist, along with every bit of skill and passion that has led to it, and for these reasons it stands much taller than the vast majority of its peers right now. Well worth a spin.
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