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Photo: Hilary Sullivan

Ben Chandler's music is akin to catching the glimpse of a rainbow after a stormy day, effortlessly balancing sonic sunshine with wistful lyricism that hints at past mistakes. It's a testament to the 22-year-old artist's grasp on what not just makes a great song but a great song you will not be forgetting anytime soon. Unity is the latest collection of great, lasting, genre-blurring songs from Chandler that see the Florida-based artist striving for greater emotional highs and taking greater experimental risks.

Unity is a project of uniquely modern times, and not just for the way it drives forward with a genre-bending appeal. Created primarily over FaceTime, Unity was primarily co-produced by apob during last year's lockdown. In spite of that, the five-track EP moves forward with all the reckless abandon of a project untethered by the world below. From the sun-drenched opening track "Young Mistakes," which in the same breath accepts and forgives the adolescent mistakes of the past to the laid-back, psychedelic trip that is "Reject," Chandler establishes his latest EP as a deeply human one.

"I drew a lot of inspiration from my past mistakes in life that I wasn't so proud of," Chandler shares. "Whether it was blowing money on materialistic things, or messing with people's emotions unintentionally, I came to write about past experiences to reminisce in a sense, but with other songs on the EP - like 'Reject' - I drew inspiration from my own feelings. 'Reject' came from my inner turmoil of always thinking that what people praise about me isn't always true. It's way more personal than my other projects, and I'm proud of that."

Listen to Unity below: