The Breakups are a self-starter outfit from “Hollywoodland,” and their EP, Eat Your Heart Out, is scheduled to be released on Feb 13. I believe that all dimensions of an artwork are taken into consideration unconsciously, I decided to bring those dimensions to the surface — and maybe have some fun waxing poetic about the CD sleeve. The cover is an image of a girl taking a bite out of a
pastel-candy colored heart of a similarly stylized pencil drawing of a boy, done in soft pastel shades that creates a dissonance between form and color. The interpretation of the face of the female subject leaves one with an unsettled feeling. The designer seems to be challenging the casual observer to a game of subtext, “Is this design representative of the sound and the mood of the EP itself, or is it simply a visual pun, poking fun at something childish and whiny?”

Already, the mood of this EP can be felt, not in the graphic interpretation itself, but in the question it makes the casual observer ask himself. With track names like “Tissue Sample” and “Feed,” the back of the EP remains non-committal, challenging the
listener to let the sound speak for itself.

The first track continues the train of thought started by the surface design, with a 24-second sample of a phone call between two lovers, which suddenly devolves into a clever pun, blindsiding the listener who is, by this point, conditioned to interpret the phrase “break up” in a very specific way — the kind that makes you cringe and think of 14-year-olds in spiked faux-leather collars and that fresh pre-run mascara look.

I laughed at the end of the first track, but not for long, as the second track, “Day In The Sun,” crashes in with a very unexpected rhythm and drive. The texture of the track, and of the EP as a whole, is rich and well developed, with layering that achieves a distinct clarity and transparency, while maintaining a complex dimensionality of sound. The mix is very clean, with distortion lending rough edges, but letting the melodic interplay of the lead and back-up vocals blossom atop the waves of electric turbulence.

After the initial shock, the track slows and concentrates on the melodic scenery, organically flowing into track two, “Tissue Sample.” Plays on words, warm textured sound set to a waltz rhythm with careful background instrumentation, as well as the occasional cameo by lightly distorted electric all frame the lead vocals. The delicacy of this track is able to provide a touching lyrical contrast to the more poppy and rocky textures of the rest of the EP.

As if to bounce back from the mention of Elliot Smith, the next track, “After The Fact,” switches gears once again, incorporating the quirky feel of Hellogoodbye’s “All Time Low,” into a very grounded and bass-treble balanced track. The up-beat emphasis makes this track rhythmically distinct, continuing a sense of movement toward a goal that permeates the EP.

The mood of the EP, elevated by the previous track, is resolved into a steady and detached groove in “Let’s See What Happens,” the record’s emotional low point, which, nevertheless, does not let the EP lose momentum, grinding the feeling of detachment into the listener with rhythm as steady and inevitable as the progression of the screen-scroll of the screen in a Mario game.

The detachment of this track comes close to losing the interest of the listener, only to shock one back to life with the energy of “Feed.” Keeping a careful hair-thin balance between vocals and instrumentation, the song seems at times to come close to drowning out the vocalist, only to push back into balance, giving the acoustic equivalent of being caught by a wave that is almost too rough to handle.

After the detached, almost emotionless feel of “Let’s See What Happens,” “Feed” is an adrenaline rush, which eventually flows out into a warm, smooth and melodic “Winding Down,” leading out of the more intense mood of the previous tracks and back toward the playful feel of the beginning of the EP. The final track finishes the conversation started by the first, dissolving into almost a minute of silence and then erupting with an outtake-style tail, which, in defiance of crystallization of the meaning the tail, simply points back to the first track; this leaves the listener with another layer of the riddle, and almost no choice but to come back.

This EP is quirky, brilliantly mixed and edited, and musically strong, drawing on a vast and diverse array of textures. It manages to incorporate the truly great elements of indie, pop-rock and even folk elements without sounding trite and keeping the listener on the edge of expectation for the entirety of the 21 minutes — organically leading back to the beginning in a clever, nonchalant gesture. This EP creates an expectation and then sneaks up on that very expectation only to mock it. The band’s ability to take themselves lightly ensures that the thread of the fun of this record is never lost. This work laughs at the world, and itself, with the sincerity of a clever child.