In a time where everything and every little detail of a piece of music is often analyzed for hidden meaning or enjoyed purely as prosaic white noise, it is increasingly rare to see music that doesn’t burden itself with too much or too little information. Ady Manral’s ‘Lean On Love’ does, though. It does not have anything flashy or any heavily laden multi-layered production, but that also rids it of pretense and unnecessary compositional flourishes that take away from the listening experience.

‘Lean On Love’ is a pop EP. It does not hide the fact that it is simple and accessible; on the contrary, it has no qualms about putting it on full display. The title track is a good picture of the direction and mood of the whole EP; it is an easy-on-the-ears appeal to the listener to dust themselves off and move forward with their relationships. The sonic palate of the music on here is also true to form; Ady’s main songwriting tool is the acoustic guitar, and that occupies the centerstage of the melodies on the songs. The only other element that a singer-songwriter can rely on to carry their music is their voice. And that leads to another reason why the EP on the whole is eminently listenable. The vocals are in that perfect spot where they can be listened to many, many times without ever being boring. The timbre of Ady’s voice contributes a lot to this; he has an incredibly smooth mid-range tone that he can sit in comfortably, so much so that it never sounds like he’s straining or moving out of his comfort zone. He also has a very effortless, velvety falsetto that, when used, provides enough variety that his vocal parts don’t end up sounding monotonous.

The backing instrumentation also helps the songwriting stay fresh. ‘Distraction’ has some warm, tasteful drumming and a bit of lead guitar poking its head through between his voice and the acoustic, providing a bit more musical depth. ‘Tere Saath’ has some classic shakers and handclaps to provide some non-intrusive production. ‘Zindagi’ moves away from the more upbeat strummed accents on the previous song, going instead from some quiet strings and a slightly modulated lead guitar melody that both provides a counterpoint to the acoustic guitar and also meshes in with it well. Even though the overall mood of the release is positive, bubbly and upbeat, there is enough nuance behind the main melodies of the songs to keep them relatively interesting past the first listen.

‘Lean On Love’ is interesting because it does something music does less and less these days; stay out of your way. It does not demand your entire brain capacity to work out certain sounds or throw you off guard with experimental themes. It’s just good pop music that sounds solid and demands nothing but your ears. There is a certain charm to that which a lot of music has lost in this modern age, but it’s nice to see that there is still something like it being made.

Check out the official video of Lean On Love below: