E.G. Phillips – Outlaw The Dead EP (Ducks With Pants Records)

You recently had a chance to read about “It Ain’t Good To Be In Love With You” and “A Bridge Too Far (MacArthur Station)”, two exceptional singles by E.G. Phillips, a San Francisco-based singer-songwriter. These two singles served as introductory pieces for the “Outlaw The Dead,” an outstanding extended play release carrying six magnificent songs. For those who somehow missed my previous reviews, E.G. Phillips combines a singer-songwriter approach with some of the finest properties borrowed from many complementary music genres. Indie rock, indie folk, folk rock, art rock, progressive rock, and jazz are just some elements that enhance, accentuate, and decorate this marvelous collection of songs, but do not be surprised if you stumble upon many more along the way.

“Outlaw The Dead” exemplifies E.G. Phillips‘s writing, composing, recording, and producing abilities. You will immediately notice how he thoroughly paid attention while assembling these six songs. Each song comes with a perfect structure, decorated with an outstanding vocal performance that skillfully decorates and emphasizes the instrumentations. His experience, knowledge, skill, creativity, ideas, and musicianship shine through every vocal harmony, melody, note, and beat. “Outlaw The Dead” commences with a title track, a rock and roll-inspired composition that showcases E.G. Phillips’s interest in indie rock. The song bursts with powerful chord progressions and riffs, empowered by the rotary effect, while the equally complex basslines offer more heaviness, depth, and clarity to the ambiance. The flawlessly performed rhythmic sequences are based upon energetic, well-accentuated beats that provide groove and pace, but also keep the remainder of the instrumentations in line. It’s a catchy introductory piece that will force you to dive deeper into this material.

“Boil The Ocean” comes up next with a much calmer, relaxing, ethereal ambiance. It is a meaningful ballad that delivers beautiful piano, organ, keyboard leads and ambiances, supported by heavy low-end notes performed on a fretless bass guitar. The artist gradually introduces wisely implemented chord progressions and more robust beats, giving more complexity to an already intricate song. Of course, there are also “It Ain’t Good To Be In Love With You” and “A Bridge Too Far (MacArthur Station),” two incredible compositions where the artist goes into depths of several music genres, such as progressive rock, jazz, bossanova, and folk rock.

His creativity shines to the max during these songs. The layers of profoundly detailed instrumentations prove he’s the master of the craft who knows how to write and compose magnificent numbers. These ear-appealing, jaw-dropping, impressive orchestrations are also present during “(I Can Pay You In) Bottles of Wine”, another delicate downtempo composition that showcases many jazzy piano leads, vividly hearable basslines, powerful rhythmic sequences, and brass section that decorates all of it. Still, E.G. Phillips’ storytelling lyricism and exceptional vocal performance steal the show here, which was probably his intention in the first place.

“I Am The One Who Ghosts” closes this exceptional extended play release with a marvelous vocal performance by Mar Vilaseca. Her voice perfectly suits a mesmerizing ambiance based upon pleasant piano chord progressions and synth ambiances. This song also carries an entire collection of carefully assembled percussive elements delivered in a classic jazzy style. It’s also good to mention that “I Am The One Who Ghosts” also carries many psychedelic rock qualities thanks to the mentioned piano and synth maneuvers. It’s such a perfect closure of “Outlaw The Dead,” a material that carries many jaw-dropping moments thanks to E.G. Phillips’s creativity. You need to put this extended play on your radar as soon as possible because it will become your go-to soundtrack whenever you need flawlessly composed and executed music. “Outlaw The Dead” is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!