Why yes, this group shares a name with an early Walk the Moon single that is an absolute banger. But this band takes a more measured approached to penning accessible music.

I’ve alluded to this on Tuned Up before, but something about the wintertime makes me gravitate toward beachy music more. Sitting around in the darkness just makes sunny music that much more impactful to me. And its in a sort of dreamy, pensive way that is difficult to articulate, and only happens during this time of year in dreary wintry Columbus Ohio. Anna Sun’s EP takes all of these feelings and captures them in a new way for me.

The effect isn’t dissimilar to that of Alvvays. However, the vocals of Samatha Aneson are more front and center. The music sounds like I feel right now; for the most part content, albeit a bit bleary eyed.

Aneson’s vocal delivery is strong but not in your face. Honest but not oversharing. It simply is. She’s not demanding you pay close attention, yet she’s just assertive enough to make you feel a bit guilty for zoning out. Though, given the structure of the music, the band probably would forgive you doing so. Perhaps even encourage it.

The most jarring moment of the album occurs in “Mr. Midnight,” an angsty and sensual song with that will shake you out of any stupor with a well time tempo change and cymbal crash, that isn’t at all out of place. “Mr. Midnight, won’t you take me home?” has an air of desperation therein I don’t hear elsewhere on the album, with a noisy, thrilling climax that is somewhat unexpected given the precedent set by the first half of the EP.

Not nearly as jarring but still a lesson learned in jumping to conclusions about a band is found in “One Room Away,” a mid-tempo dreamy track that leans straightforward post punk. The lifeguard has blown the whistle – get out of the water. A storm is comin’. That storm arrives when Sam pleads for her love interest to stay.

A previous review of the EP in Flood Magazine uses the term “paradoxically upbeat.” It’s a conclusion I didn’t really come to at first but understand better after hearing the whole EP. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to ask my interior designer to create a mood board for me so I can redo my apartment and fully embrace the beach escapist aesthetic this winter.

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