Greencarpetedstairs

Neil Ewing has spent the past several years exploring the odds and ends of experimental hip-hop and experimental electronic music of various stripes. But with this solo project, he takes his creativity to its furthest extent. On this sprawling release, Ewing’s dark-hued pop songs take on a range of sonic identities, from the OMD-lullaby-esque “Go Now Walk Away” and the futuristic smoky-nightclub R&B number “Olympia” to the breezy, Auto-Tuned rap pop of “Song for the Brokenhearted” and the album-closing bit of moody dance-club vitriol titled “The Seen.” Like a techno-goth-flavored Aesop Rock, Ewing isn’t a bummer so much as a chronicler of a life where everything doesn’t magically work out and where honesty and imagination matter more than impressing your peers with delusions of grandeur.