Last year, the genre-agnostic New York-based musician Steven Raekwon Reynolds released his promising debut album Where I’m At Now. A couple of months ago, he followed that record with the standalone Mother’s Day single “Single Mom’s Day.” Later this summer, the man known as S. Raekwon will release a new EP with the extremely wholesome title I Like It When You Smile. Today, along with the EP announcement, he’s got a new single.

The new track “Talk” is a short, sunny indie-pop gem with a shuffling breakbeat and loopy, dazed love-song lyrics. There’s a whole lot of charm to this one. POND Creative‘s Rachel Cabbitt and Natalie Leonard directed the video, shooting S. Raekwon on grainy film at Coney Island. In a press release, S. Raekwon had this to say about the song.

“Talk” is the last song I wrote for the EP, but it sums up the tonal and emotional direction that I had set out for the project from the very start: to make something that was fun to create and listen to. Musically, I was interested in seeing how I could combine the drums and low end of hip hop records with softer and more intimate instruments like the acoustic guitar and piano. I wanted to see how far I could push the idea of drums carrying a song, rather than the “music” or melody….

Lyrically, “Talk” takes place at the inflection point of a relationship. I’m still uncovering exactly what it means, but I think it boils down to this: Talk is important, but love is a verb.

This fall, S. Raekwon will head out on a short tour with Alex Dupree and Annie Blackman. Below, check out the “Talk” video, the I Like It When You Smile tracklist, and those tour dates.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Talk”
02 “Honey”
03 “Tomorrow”
04 “Tall”

TOUR DATES:
9/24 – Silver Spring, MD @ Quarry House Tavern *
9/25 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook *
9/26 – Atlanta, GA @ Purgatory at The Masquerade *
9/28 – Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR *
9/29 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar *
9/30 – Bloomington, IN @ Blockhouse Bar *
10/01 – Chicago, IL @ The Hideout *
10/03 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Roboto Project *
10/04 – Buffalo, NY @ Duende at Silo City *
10/05 – Boston, MA @ The Rockwell *
10/06 – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right *
10/07 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Loft at City Winery *

* with Alex Dupree & Annie Blackman

The I Like It When You Smile EP is out 9/2 on Father/Daughter Records.