Was It Not - EP

Samantha Gongol and Jeremy Lloyd have been blurring the lines between electro-pop, R&B, and jazz for the better part of a decade, having released their experimental debut EP Play in 2013. That project also introduced their long-running collaboration with jazz saxophonist Steve Davit, who has become a quasi third member of the band and a tour staple. Through two studio albums and two EPs, the New York City-based group has created a niche for themselves by producing moody, minimal love songs that feel equally at home in a smoky lounge or strobe-lit after-hours. Their third EP, Was It Not, carries this torch and finds them back in the studio with Davit, who guests on the shape-shifting bedroom ballad "Eat U Alive.” That the standout title track—a swirl of whispered, watery vocals, skittering snares, and melting bass—feels entirely at home in 2020 alongside fellow dark-pop experimentalists like Billie Eilish, Mallrat, and Kiiara makes you wonder if Marian Hill was simply years ahead of their time.