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Great artist amalgamations are best when the individual components themselves stand on their own. Unique capabilities, captions of prior success, and experiences build into a mosaic of sounds, expressions, and poetics that are made exponentially more powerful by the collaborative inventiveness of shared composition.

For Toronto-based trio notfortheo, comprised of members Khalede Russell (whose Instagram handle was the basis for the band's moniker), Jonathan Kennedy Rogers, and Aaron Watkins, much of their past experiences were a seeking behavior that lead them to each other. Piqued by cultural cross-collateral references, principally indie fashion, film, and art, the group took to remote improvisation during the pandemic, before physically inviting the project to an even remoter studio “up north” of the city to construct what is the basis of their first EP, half-life. The constant from this impressive debut is a cohesion of pristine lyrics, crisp songwriting, and a melodic essence draped in a smooth, syrupy liquid feel. Songs that feel like they are meant to be drunk, slowly as the vibes cool and percolate into a fine amber hue. 

The genesis of half-life is not only locational but physical as the band admits coalescing around producer CAMP.30 was an “essential” element of their process. Like most EPs, half-life was boiled down from about ten songs, with most of the construction beginning with instrumentation over a beat and layering in melodic atmospherics, each song bridging a concept but attuned to a shared frequency.

Starting with “just a little bit,” the EP indulges your groove-oriented desires, with a wavy synth chord progression, fat baseline, and top-noting drums interspersed with a flicking and picking guitar part. For a debut single, there was no hiding the band's experience, as this feels in line with anything a mature band is capable of. Followed by“interlock,” a single that adopts a more straight rhythm, with the guitar and bass more muddled in the vein of mid-aughts indie, while the synths and vocals give a more dreamy ethereal strain consistent with the rest of the EP. “down” is a lyrical standout, a song that inches along with the vocals, a sonic conversation that slowly builds into a synthy outro, much like a lazily spoken sentence trailing off. Finally “Y I do” is the newest single, with a clicky rhythm that stalls and builds before a sweet and subtle chorus carries the song's dream wave vibe into a prolonged harmonic bliss, repeated till the sound dulls.

The summary of half-life is easy; it's excellent, and it's self-evident the band has all the qualities of a big room sound. The only question is how quickly they can ascend to the quality of their work, and despite their nascent status, they may already be halfway there.  

Listen to half-life below: