So let me preface this whole review by saying I’ve never been the hugest Incubus fan.  I liked a lot of the older heavier stuff like A Fungus Among us but really never got into them like I did other bands at the time.  Even Make Yourself Their breakout and what many consider to be their best, wasn’t an album I enjoyed all the way thru. Songs here and there, yeah, but never the full album.

All that being said I always respected Incubus and acknowledged they were talented musicians and song writers, but they just didn’t appeal to me.  What makes them unique is that they never were the kind of band that released albums on a schedule like clockwork, which allowed their sound to vary slightly each time, hell Trust fall (side b) is technically the second half of the EP Trust Fall (Side a), Which came out 5 years ago now.  Did I mention between the two was a 8, a full length album? 

Until I saw this pop up on my Amazon music home page, I actually had no idea they were releasing anything new. I guess there were two tracks released earlier, but honestly I didn’t notice.  All this being said, I’m sorry I did miss them, because this EP has turned out to be one of my favorite records so far this year and probably my favorite Incubus offering.

There’s a lot to like here, the first track, Karma Come Back, has a great funky bass line and the vocals we’ve come to expect from Boyd.  While the track starts rather slowly, its good and it builds up to a nice rock crescendo at the end with some great guitar work that is reminiscent of the old days.

The earlier released track, Into the Summer is also great.  It fuses the alt rock/funk bass and feel that they’re known for with a catchy hook and is damned good for a radio friendly almost pop track that evokes images of summers gone by, for me, mostly the 80’s and early 90’s since that’s where I’m stuck.

The final track out of the 5 is also one of the strongest on the EP, Paper Cuts.  The track begins with Boyds singing over just a simple yet beautiful piano track, which is a bit haunting to be honest but really shows off Boyds vocals and the lyrics.  If it was meant to show the world that they’ve matured, it did the job.

All in all I really like all five of the tracks on the EP and it really is one of if not my favorite Incubus albums….er…EP’s to date and blends their trademark sound nicely with a more mature and inspirational Incubus

4 out of 5 albums

-Johnny