Sonder is made up of singer Brent Faiyaz who currently features on Goldlink’s “Crew” and producers Atu and Dpat. Faiyaz brings lyrics and Atu and Dpat set the mood with their production.
The EP features seven songs, all of which hold their own weight in sounds and lyric. The intro, “Feel”, blends a soft guitar with deep almost menacing production. It then switches up to heavy bass and hard kicks and sets the tone for the vibe the EP will deliver.
Faiyaz talks of love, aspirations, and self-determination. The transition between “Sirens” and “Too Fast” is perfect and lyric-wise the latter is almost a continuation of the former. In “Sirens”, Faiyaz talks of hurdles that had to be jumped to get to where he is in the present. It wasn’t easy but he made it and at this point “[they] can’t touch [him] now”. So proceeding into “Too Fast”, now that Faiyaz has decided to follow his dreams people are now saying he is living his life at too rapid of a pace. In actuality, he has no time to waste and is just trying to accomplish as much as he can as quick as he can. The production of this song is probably the best on the EP. It has an almost haunting sound to it, but this doesn’t take up the entire song. About half way through it slows down and it seems as if Brent Faiyaz is now talking directly to someone. “Too Fast” closes with an airy electric guitar and the listeners speechless.
“Baldwin Park” is a short instrumental featuring minimal female voices. It gives the listener a chance to focus on the feeling Atu and Dpat present. “Searchin” brings a heavy 90s sound and the production sounds like a Timbaland sample or a sound similar to that of Timbaland. Either way it makes this song a stand out on the EP.
“Care” closes out the EP with no heavy base but just Faiyaz’s voice melting over a simple guitar. Its simplicity easily makes the listener fall in love with it.
Into EP is the perfect blend of ethereal and vigorous. It’s evocative of the things we love about 90s R&B and makes us grateful for the things that modern R&B has to offer. The Into EP leaves us wanting more and anticipating what is next to come from this trio.
Favorite Tacks: “Too Fast” and “Searchin”
