By zak

With an abundance of alone time being a common thread among humans in 2020, contemplation and meditation have been rife. It’s been echoed musically to the tune of Grammy-nominated albums such as Phoebe Bridgers’ Punisher and, somewhat surprisingly, in Taylor Swift’s indie-folk undertaking folklore. Music as a way to exorcise demons of one’s personal past isn’t a new invention, but it’s one that has been significantly prominent this year.

Awful Lottery—the debut EP from Columbus six-piece indie-rock band Lowlights—hits a similar chord. Although the EP is just a three-song, testing-the-waters project, it plays like a complete LP. 

The first track, “Dove,” feels like an EP in and of itself. Listeners are greeted with synchronized, angelic “oohing” backed by an ethereal guitar, which swiftly changes to more refined chords. Just after the three-minute mark, the track takes a step back, where you can hear the rhythm section take center stage despite singer-songwriter and guitarist Erin Mason’s vocals still being present. Eerily calm singing—reminiscent of the intro—gives way for a show-stopping fadeout of a blissful five minutes.

The following track, “Coffee,” is much like the title suggests: a song you can jumpstart your morning to without the aid of bone-shattering bass. Although the EP was released on Halloween, it seems more timely now with the arrival of the first real snowfall. It even has the exultant energy of holiday music without watered-down lyrics with subjective lines like, “I wish you didn’t see January’s whiskey.”

“Golden,” which closes out the EP, spotlights something that was evident throughout the entire EP: the magnificent quality of the EP’s mixing, which was handled by Tony Rice. Mason’s lyrics are echoed flawlessly around the 50-second mark, adding another layer to the already introspective project. It’s the type of studio work that makes you excited for a group to put out a full-length with the same team.

All throughout, the harmonies on Awful Lottery are passionately hypnotic. The dreamy, luminant lyrics of Mason are representative of a year of reflection. On “Dove,” Mason delivers the line, “I’ve been down so long I forgot I could look up,” and “Detachment’s always worked out so well for me,” with majestic syncopation. It’s what she says and how she says it that draws the listener in, much like Bridgers and Swift did earlier this year.

You can follow Lowlights on Facebook and Instagram and support the EP on Bandcamp.