The Lytics - The Lytics EP

In the two days I’ve had The Lytics EP, I’ve listened to it over a dozen times, and with each additional listen, it seems to keep getting better and better.

A good album should listen like a good wine should taste – each sip revealing new details and layers that were seemingly invisible the previous sip.  Initial impressions and feelings should be built on and increased in complexity.  On the first spin, The Lytics EP was an easy listen.  Fun and toe-tapping, the focus was on seeing how consistent the rest of the EP was with “Big City Soundgirl” (which I had heard a while ago on The Lytics' MySpace page).  “Big City Soundgirl” is a great introduction to The Lytics' material because it brings you in gently and creates curiosity with a hook that is catchy but light --  instead of a heavy bassline -- to turn your ears and move your body.

Imagine my continued intrigue when “Checkin’ On My Pumas” started, and the pop-synthesizer dominated, reminding me of bubble gum, hopscotch and the skipping club I was once a part of and taking me back to my childhood which spanned the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.  Hidden in the middle of this track is a bridge that contains a guitar with a slight spanish accent, bringing me back to a dreamy present until the synthesizer dissolves the dream into the happy memories it had originally provoked.

The third track, “Try Hard”, has the same feel as “Big City Soundgirl”, both of which bring a certain cinema-like tension, as if the main characters have to go their separate ways to resolve their conflict before their story together can continue.

The last song on the EP to keep the happy, lighthearted feel is “Stay Humble”.  Hopefully, “Stay Humble” will be an anthem that sticks with The Lytics as they grow in popularity, as well as with others who hear this song.  After all, sometimes it's easy to forget where we've come from.  With this reminder of humility, The Lytics use the song perfectly as a stepping stone into the second half of the album.

Shifting to heavier overtones, “I’m Here” is reminiscent of “Big City Soundgirl” and “Try Hard” because it keeps a similar tension.  Now that The Lytics have introduced themselves with their stylistic musical fusion of The Jackson 5 and The Fugees, this song shows increased intensity drifting more towards the fashion of K-OS or Talib Kweli and spearheads the tone of the final two tracks.

The tension dissolves when “Smoke!” begins.  Also gone is the lack of bass that appeared in “Checkin’ On My Pumas”.  Get ready to dance with this tune -- the vocals are playful and the bass makes you want to dance until your “hips are going dumb dumb!”  The energy is infectious, whether you are a “pretty young ting” or not.

As all good cliffhangers go, “On Point” keeps you craving for a sequel with a pace that sets the stage for another song.  That song can be fast or slow, it doesn’t matter (although I would prefer another great dance tune, naturally), The Lytics know how to maintain the thirst.

It often happens to me that my memories of a fine wine get all mixed together, and that certain subtleties that I discovered with each sip become one overall experience.  This is what happened with The Lytics EP.  Each listen brought out certain flavors that shaped my appreciation for their compilation and sculpted my curiosity for how their full-length will be arranged, and what the new songs will sound like.  The Lytics keep the vocals well-balanced -- never overly dramatic, which happens a bit too much with aspiring hip hop artists (perhaps for the same reasons that other, more seasoned artists wear a truckload of bling?) -- nor is there a feeling of one band member overshadowing any other. I loved the drift from an airy, entertaining tone to a more dramatic one as the EP went along – it tells me that The Lytics can have fun and play around with their sound without forgetting the root of their message, all the while maintaining your respect.

The past five years of making the songs that compile The Lytics EP and reflecting on previous efforts has definitely given The Lytics valuable insight to their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their capability as musicians overall.  The question now is: what else are they capable of?  If I were a betting girl, I'd say “a hell of a lot more.”  I can't wait to see the results.