Jaunt began as a duo in Hamilton, Ontario in 2014 crafting bedroom pop from different spaces. The duo then ballooned to a quintet as they convened in Toronto, and the sound evolved into deft, dense, melding sensibilities from each of the five pieces. Their new EP, Chat, is due later this summer. The first offering from the 6-song collection is “Hello.” It’s a swift dose of breezy, smooth, R&B-leaning pop that’s catchy as hell. A deep, oozing baseline is balanced with bright, glimmering guitar and punctuated by clever syncopated boom-bap drums as a feathery falsetto wafts through. It mimics a brief conversation as a reminder that sometimes the shortest talks are the most difficult. The lead vocal struggles to even say hello on the phone as the strength of his separation anxiety from a lover rushes to the forefront and takes him over. It sounds bouncy, but there is a wonderful tension between the emotion and aesthetic with no hint of resolution, fittingly ending in a dial tone. Check it out.

Tracklist:

01 “Hello”
02 “Gentle Reminder”
03 “Comfortable”
04 “WDYCM”
05 “I Did Call You Twice”
06 “Okay Then”

Chat is out in July.