CJ Sooy‘s debut EP, Is Anything Real, feels like one of those dusty, scrappy cassette tapes that had to be hidden from strict, overbearing parents. Dripping in influences (Oasis and Goo Goo Dolls, the most obvious ones), the five-track project switches between static-y alt-rock radio stations but carries Sooy’s signature voice ringing in your ears. From the very first guitar strokes in “Yesterday,” the Philadelphia singer, songwriter, and musician immerses you in a tank of gloriously ’90s craftsmanship. It’s not just influenced by several greats of the decade; Sooy takes you back 30 years in the front seat of his roaring vintage Oldsmobile.
“Drive” follows suit, a gripping Friday night tailgater awash in the wistfulness of “Stacy’s Mom” with just a twinge of regret. The prickly, acoustic-based “Sloane” cuts the EP in half, arriving moments before the catalytic shockwaves of “Marigold” fields and the country-plucked title track that rises and falls in hypnotic lyrical swirls. “For a moment, I thought I knew you,” sings Sooy over tangy bittersweetness. “Turns out, I didn’t know shit.”
Is Anything Real douses you in images of the past. Every romance and breakup zips passed you, as does the freedom we all once felt pre-2000, when life seemed limitless, and we weren’t prisoners of the digital age. Is there any way of getting back to that?
CJ Sooy’s Is Anything Real EP drops August 7.
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