Last week, the Philly band Katie Ellen premiered “Lighthouse,” the lead single off their new EP, Still Life, and today they’re sharing the EP in full.

Still Life is the follow-up to 2017’s excellent debut LP, Cowgirl Blues, which showcased the band’s ability to maneuver through energetic pop-punk and bittersweet songs with dexterity and ease. On this EP, Katie Ellen continue to reckon with much of the same matter that made Cowgirl Blues feel so relatable and intimate — co-dependence, break-ups, and what it really means to grow up. But this time around, frontwoman and vocalist Anika Pyle trades in some of her incisive angst-fueled takes for more vulnerable rhuminations on longing and uncertainty.

On the album’s namesake track, Pyle shows off some seriously impressive vocal range and lyrical prowess. She starts off pleading, “I feel it slipping away/ I am desperate to make it okay” before the song grows triumphant, and the listener seems to reach a similar epiphany as she comes to terms with the harsh reality of it all and concedes that “You can’t make love stay / Do your best to hold it in place.”

In a lot of ways, this EP feels like an extension, reaching somewhere towards a future resolution but still rooted firmly in the present. Listen below.

TOUR DATES:
07/25 Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
07/26 St Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill Duck Room
07/27 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
07/29 Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
07/30 Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium
07/31 Billings, MT @ Pub Station
08/02 Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett
08/03 Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
08/04 Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore
08/05 Portland, OR @ Holocene
08/07 Sacramento, CA @ Holy Diver
08/08 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
08/09 Fresno, CA @ Strummer’s
08/10 Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater
08/11 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
08/12 Las Vegas, NV @ Beauty Bar

The Still Life EP is out 7/20 via Lauren Records. Pre-order it here.