For listeners of indie music and lovers of soulful sensibilities, singer-songwriter Familiar Face is worth a listen or a love affair. Familiar Face emulates the music of Death Cab for Cutie and sources inspiration from diverse influences as well as personal experiences.
The Dividends EP, the newest collection from Familiar Face, features four tracks: Dividend, One-Sided Affair, Western Pipeline, and Den. These melancholic melodies wax romantic on emotive topics such as romance without requital, contemplation without consolation, and hesitation over whether to hate or heal after heartbreak.
The Dividends EP provides listeners with the familiar conventions and comforts of the genre, those simple and sincere songs sung about someone special, the atmosphere of an acoustic afternoon in the haven of a home studio. The Dividends EP, neither angst-free nor faux-poetic, is more so rum-and-cola music than coffee music, with wistful vocals and the complement of guitars, percussions, and piano to soothe the senses.
The Dividends EP opens with Dividends, a lament about once lovers who are now familiar
strangers. The intro eases the listener into the loss of love: She is gone, and, in the absence of her, intense memories and apologies immerse the listener in the depths of the instrumentals.
The Dividends EP delivers a love letter in the form of One-Sided Affair, a rumination on the
promises of love. The tone and tempo contrast to connote the onset of sorrow beneath the
surface of a desperate hope for love. The chorus climaxes in a vacuum of emotion to leave the listener alone and without closure.
The Dividends EP continues its episodic harmonies with Western Pipeline. For Familiar Face, his home is in her heart, whoever she is, wherever she is. The music mopes with empathic emphasis to echo notes of nostalgia and the time those who wander and wonder waste.
The Dividends EP closes with Den, a favorite for this reviewer, whose opinions are no justice to its excellence. Give it a listen.
Familiar Face plans to release new music in 2021. Rumors of post-pandemic performances and merchandise remain rumors, so in the meanwhile, Familiar Face shares content on social media and streams music on popular platforms.