Snaex
untitled EP
self-released

Drake isn’t the only artist out there who’s grown tired of calling his releases “albums.” The local alt-folk trio Snaex is categorizing its new three-song effort as a “digital-virtual-video-EP.” No title, no cover art, just three videos of Chriss Sutherland, Chris Teret, and new bassist Tyler Heydolph recording at a home studio in Cape Elizabeth. The new songs show the group continuing the loose, hypnotic approach to acoustic music that they exhibited on their earlier 2017 EP, the excellent Holy Times. “Give Up the Ghost” strikes the same balance as earlier tracks like “Song About Time,” delivering melancholy lyrics like lullabies. Teret takes the lead in his honeycomb-lacquered tenor, describing scenarios in which people approach the brink of death, but when Sutherland and Heydolph chime in on the chorus, it somehow feels like everything’s gonna be OK. “Unforgotten Images,” with Sutherland singing lead, is a darker affair — its vocal harmonies take flight over a mournful tremolo guitar figure. But if one of these songs is going to make you cry, it’s the actual lullaby, a cover of Uruguayan singer/songwriter Eduardo Mateo’s “Principe Azul,” sung in Spanish by Sutherland with a tenderness that transcends language barriers.

— Joe Sweeney