Jenny O‘s new EP Home is a thing of wonderment. EPs are actually fast becoming my favourite music record format; a delicious compromise between modern man’s attention span, cohesion, and time investment. Home further cements that notion over five tracks that complement each other perfectly, uniformly encourage repeat listens and, whilst inevitably provoking the desire for a full length, satisfy in their own right.

Opening tracks ‘Well Ok Honey’ is a sly bit of misdirection for the EP as a whole, a 60s tinged flower-pop song that works as a great intro by dint of its quirky riffs, lo-fi production and hippy harmonies. When the following ‘All My Wishes’ turns out to be a sweet, intimate ballad that really gives breath to Jenny’s own particularly lush, vocal timbre and robust melodies, it seems all the better for the contrast. The remainder of the EP has much more in common with the latter track than the former, with fantastic effect. The EP probably crescendoes in quality at penultimate track ‘I Do, I Do’; a delicate melody, sparse, affecting piano hits and frank vocals culminating in a cadence, I have no qualms about admitting, that made me feel quite emotional upon first listen.

The album doesn’t seem to hark back to Jenny O’s LA (it’s not that sunny a record) and so the eponymous Home could be a more emotional destination as it were. The songs do all speak of relationships and their day-to-day nuances, Jenny O inviting her listeners to occupy her headspace for the duration. It’s not gloomy in there (a tad forlorn perhaps) but either way the intimacy is compelling and easy to identify with, further shoring up the EP as a consummately elegant 16.4 minutes of music.

Jenny O is currently recording a new album and like most EPs, I imagine Home will serve as part taster part experiment in the run up. Well, it bodes absolutely brilliantly and for sheer second-to-pleasure ratio the album will be hard pressed to compete. Home doesn’t venture too far afield, doesn’t explore distant soundscapes; but like that place that most hold so dear it’s cozy, and after being apart from it for a while starts calling out to you to return.