The debut EP (eight songs clocking in at around 25 minutes) from Chicago's Esta Vivo is a folky, sleepy affair with a tropicalia tinge, wispy as a spider's web and just as sticky. In the studio, Esta Vivo is a one-man jam (Bearries' Ryan McMahon) and it sounds that way; there's purpose here that allows for transgressions into light electro and brief ambient soundscapes, all the while filtered through an unabashedly happy (though still gauzy) pop haze. Sophisticated pop song arrangements belie McMahon's 19 years, though an air of youthful optimism shines through. "Natural Blossom" is a leftfield hit in some alternate universe where Os Mutantes and Pixies coexist as numbers one and two in the public consciousness, while "Pickin' and Choosin'" explores the old adage that "you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family" to a downer-induced hip-hop beat and skittery guitar line.

Download the EP (for free!) at Esta Vivo's Bandcamp page (estavivo.bandcamp.com), and get two "B-Sides" to go with the record, every bit on par with the material on the EP proper.

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