Pia EP - Urban Explorer

Compared to last year's Waterfalls, which was an assorted platter of punk pop, emo, rock ballad, and NELL-style progressive rock, Urban Explorer is a less ambitious, but more consistent release. The album's namesake track Urban Explorer (Track 1) is the best of the rundown, hooking ears with great beats and synthesizer for a carefree and funky rock piece. Silver (Track 3) is also an outstanding track, a mid-tempo rock ballad with simple and effective melody and arrangement. Vocalist Yohan takes listeners through the song's emotions well with subtle variations in vocal and expression that complement the melody like second skin.

The album's other new tracks mainly pitch a pop punk sound with Misconstrued (Track 2), Save Us (Track 4), and Go! Just Go! (Track 5) being solid rock numbers with catchy melodies and energetic interpretations. Though none of the three stand out as better than the rest, they are sufficiently distinctive from each other. Misconstrued takes a layered approach by starting loud and hard before heading to softer notes, and Save Us switches up the formula with dabs of electronic.

Urban Explorer's last two tracks are remixes of the oracle and Black fish swim from Waterfalls. the oracle (Swan remix) (Track 6) starts similar to the original with lingering notes and a dramatic buildup, but whereas the original heads into pop emo after the opening section, the remix stays soft, slow, and wispy. The end result is an ethereal track that holds greater emotional and lyrical gravitas, making this remix version better than the original. B.F.S. BUTTerFLY reMix (Track 7) is more of a novelty offering. The irreverent pop punk of Black fish swim gets slowed down and dressed with a whimsical emo-ska synthesizer arrangement, creating a laidback hybrid that sounds very different from the original.