Connor Riesen’s new three-track EP Beginnings Vol.3 moves between acoustic warmth, jazz influences, and reinterpretations of familiar material. It marks an inviting success from the Orlando-based producer and artist, who taught himself guitar by ear for this release—playing both acoustic and electric guitar while also handling production and songwriting—making the project a notable expansion of his musical palette.
A stirring cover of Coldplay’s “Sparks” opens the EP, featuring the song’s standout warmth in the mixture of balmy acoustic guitars and trickling twangs. “I’ll always look for you, yeah that’s what I’ll do,” the subdued delivery resonates into the affecting soaring that ensues, also reprising the calming bassline entry amidst the chilled-out acoustics. The backing harmonies in the “I know I was wrong” segment are also fully affecting.
Next up, “I Know It” fuses hypnotic acoustics and click-clacking percussive tones, as the smoothness of the “chasing something” phrasing drives into jazzy, spine-tingling guitar flows and glistening keys. The aesthetic here reminds fondly of Alex Siegel. Then arrives “Song of Storms,” an intoxicatingly beautiful jazz take on the classic song from The Legend of Zelda series. The jazzy rhythms and lounge-set keys do excellent service to the original’s magnetic melodic mystique. Filled with both melodic nostalgia and evident musicianship, Beginnings Vol.3 is a captivating output from Connor Riesen.
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“I Know It” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
