Umi Copper might not be a name you know yet, but this Long Beach native has already begun to turn some heads, including those at Black Acre Records, who were excited to add him to their roster. Now that his debut EP, Requiem, is here, you can see what the fuss is all about.

Normally when I see a debut EP with four songs on it, I tend to think I’m in for a quick introduction to who the artist is, but it will be fairly inconsequential beyond that. They’ll probably be working out the kinks of recording themselves and figuring out what works, and we’ll get a couple of songs that hint at real potential. Requiem could not be further from that scenario. I don’t know exactly how long Copper has been honing his craft, but he’s put in some serious work, both leading up to and all the way through recording this EP. His style is progressive soul along the lines of someone like Aaron Abernathy or Bilal, with maybe a touch of Jeff Buckley thrown in for good measure. He’s got an incredibly strong voice, with a great tone to it, that he uses to sing some ambitious melodies. That is in part because this whole EP is ambitious, creating the program for a mass exploring themes of love and loss. It’s grand and cinematic in feel, with songs that continuously build and explore. He manages to do this without sounding too self-indulgent, mostly because while his compositions might be complex, they never lose the melody or focus of the song. As a result, this becomes an EP best listened to in one sitting, where you can completely lose yourself for a moment, completely lose track of time and just let these songs swirl around you as Copper works through his emotions and processes everything.

This might be his debut EP, but Umi Copper sounds like a seasoned veteran on Requiem. He not only has a great voice, but he’s ambitious and confident in his songwriting as well. He’s given us an emotional, complex composition broken into four movements.