by Brooks Mendenhall

Baby’s First EP

Easy Puzzles is an ambient, post-rock band from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Their self-titled EP was released on March 8, 2024. Easy Puzzles EP was recorded and mixed by Michael Roddy and Alan Wilkes. It was mastered by Nicholas Wilbur of the Unknown. 

Beginnings

It’s fitting for Easy Puzzles to be the first review posted to the Chattanooga Noise Night blog. Easy Puzzles is, in many respects, the first band to be birthed from the CNN community. 

Michael Roddy and Alan Wilkes’ friendship predates CNN by over a decade. The project came about when Wilkes got back into musicking after a twenty-year hiatus. Roddy had recently moved back to Chattanooga and expressed interest in playing alto sax over Wilkes’ guitar loops. 

This collaboration coincided with the early days of CNN. Before rehearsing any material, Easy Puzzles agreed to play a set at the fifth-ever Noise Night. I remember hearing them play that night and knowing it was something special.

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” – Carl Sagan

I recently had a conversation with local artist No Thank You John. He mentioned being an “imaginative listener.” The idea stuck with me. I don’t know what John meant, but I’ve been trying out imaginative listening anyway. 

To me, imaginative listening is the opposite of critical listening. It’s sympathetic listening that grants the music authority. It’s noticing sounds and accepting them on their terms. Like how one allows thoughts to flow during meditation. It’s paradoxical listening. It celebrates the mystery of creating by forgetting about the self while simultaneously opening the self to the possibility of change.

“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn

Easy Puzzles’ new EP is perfect for imaginative listening. If you want immediate gratification, this ain’t it. The moments of melodic catharsis are few and far between. But, if you settle in and allow the music to breathe, you will be rewarded.

“You're from somewhere. A nice, comfortable place that you could return to whenever you wanted.” – Pearl

The EP opens with the standout track, “Showknees”. A vocal sample from the 2022 horror film The Pearl is the first thing the listener hears. “The truth is, I’m not really a good person,” Pearl admits. This uneasy line sits on top of Wilkes’ stretching, distorted guitar scapes. The tone of the track complements the monologue. There’s something warm and familiar in Pearl’s voice, but also distant and harsh.

Roddy’s saxophone joins the mix with a desperate yearning. The track builds into a steady wall of sound. The line between the harmonious and the dissonant is thin throughout the EP, and nowhere is this dichotomy more visceral than the feedback-laden crescendo on “Showknees”. The intensity wanes, and the track fades into release.

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday.” – A.A. Milne

The most patient track on the release is the fifteen-minute “Bad Hare Day”. The sounds of children laughing peppers the background. Angelic strings sprinkle over top. The track swells and builds. 

Rather than the crescendo of “Showknees”, there’s a brief and beautiful moment of calm in the middle. A sample of what sounds like crashing waves drifts into the mix. Then it's gone, and the track slides back into synthesizer soundscapes.

 "With IMAGINATION I can be anything I want! A pirate, arrg! A football player, hut!" – Spongebob

The remaining tracks “August” and “Dusty Rhodes” are stellar as well.

With my imaginative listening engaged, “August” brings to mind an astronaut. Untethered and floating, he looks back at our pale blue dot. There’s an acute awareness of this strange moment in time. Out of the void come two voices chanting a naive melody in unison. They bring our focus back to breath.

“Dusty Rhodes” then is the opposite. Here the earth looks back. She’s fully aware of our estranged astronaut. Hisses of white noise slink and pulse across the track as invasive vegetation overwhelms abandoned human infrastructure. Everything will always be exactly like it is.

Don’t wait! Get yours today!

Easy Puzzles EP is a 40-minute escape. The tracks shift and glide. The EP manages to span a large range of emotions all while keeping a stillness and peace at its core.

Easy Puzzles EP is available for digital download on Bandcamp and for purchase as a limited-release cassette tape.

Grab a copy.

Throw on your headphones.

Melt.