Greetings dearest reader and music lovers let’s welcome to our blog artist Old April. The solo project of 20-year-old “Billy Klepper,” a Pennsylvanian artist with roots in State College and Long Island, New York, is Old April. Four songs on his EP, “Forever, You’re Here,” which was released on 14th March are the ones that mean the most to him. As the EP goes on, it experimentally depicts a gradual spiral into madness while examining themes of coming of age, nostalgia, and substance abuse. Let me tell you more about the EP

The first song on the EP is called “Bud”. The intro of the song alone is just something that will pique your interest because of its extraordinary emotiveness. The song captures a conversation between childhood friends. One of the friends decides to tell his friend about their friends’ lives. He starts with himself, what he’s heard about the character he is narrating this too and moves on to two other friends and the significant changes in their lives. The lyrics just boil down to loyalty between friends as the main character promises to stand with his friend! no matter what (” As your friend I’ll be here, I don’t mind”). The song is very emotive and the vocal performance is tender and soft which matches the vibe the song brings and elevates its meaning. Through this song, we know what voice or what direction the rest of the EP is going to take

The next song is the EP’s namesake “Forever, you’re here”. This song has a soft and delicate guitar strum as its opener. The story in the song reminds me of a movie called The Notebook starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel Mcadams. Just like in the song, one of the main characters is losing her or has lost her memory but the other hasn’t (”you won’t remember my name in a year but no one forgets bout a girl like you dear, forever, you’re here”). Just like in the movie, he tells the woman he loves that he will never forget her. The song is very passionate and tender and the artist’s voice is so angelic and you feel the sadness he sings with through his impeccable vocal performance and perfect instrumentation

Next is the song “Midsummer, 1985”. The song opens with bright and cheery guitar sounds. The song describes the year the character and his friends came of age in the town they were born in(” Midsummer, 1985 this town’s come of age”). The song has a beautiful structure with all instruments, and vocal performance included in perfect sync to create a beautiful soundscape

The last song on the EP is called “Utah Money”. The song starts with a fusion of colorful sounds. The character in the song talks to a person he was once close to or someone he had a relationship with. He offers his condolences about her deceased dog and tells her that he misses her. Through the song’s lyrics, listeners can discern that he has not gotten over his affection for them and wishes that things were different, their relationship hadn’t ended, and is so sure that their relationship and lives together would have been everything they both dreamed of(” I bet in another life, we had it all”). You can sense the despair and disappointment because of the incredibly beautiful vocal performance. This song brings this beautiful EP to a close

The EP brings a deeper sense of self-awareness to listeners. The themes discussed were all relatable and performed in a very crisp and flawless way. The songs will evoke a higher and more profound level of emotions and the songs leave you with this lasting feeling long after they have ended. Old April is very talented and will go far in the music industry

Stream the “Forever, you’re here” EP on Spotify or SoundCloud

Follow Old April on his socials; Instagram, Bandcamp, YouTube