Seniors Jack Hochman, Quinn McGinley and Ryan Skae released their EP “For You” on April 3. It has been released on Spotify, Apple Music and SoundCloud to significant success, with the single “Honey” reaching over 50,000 streams on all platforms combined. McGinley and Skae used their self-founded record label, Fore Records LLC, to release the EP. 

The project was a collaboration between the three. Skae and Hochman are independent artists who came together for the project, releasing the EP under the names “Skay” and “Jack Wills,” respectively. Skae played the ukulele and piano that are featured heavily on the album and was responsible for the majority of the production, which included creating, mixing and mastering the music. Hochman brought his voice and abilities as a lyricist to the project. Quinn helped with both the production and lyrics, but his most significant contribution was in the marketing and promotion of the project. Both the single and the EP have unique artwork made for them, with “For You” shirts for sale on Skae’s website. 

“Jack is a super talented lyricist and singer, so after two years of constantly pressing him to record, he finally bought in. We have a ton of songs recorded together but nothing has been released under our names prior to this,” Skae said. 

The EP itself features four tracks, “Ch 1. – Turn the Page,” “Turn the Page,” “Sideways” and “For You,” which are about ten minutes in total. The tracks have a pop quality to them, and are fairly consistent in their sound. The production is clean and well put-together, with Skae’s ukulele and piano supporting the main beats. Each of the tracks start off with a solo ukulele but it brings a different flavor to each one through Skae’s production. The first track, with its sparse production, features a natural sounding ukulele, but the one on “Sideways” fits the track’s more somber mood with reverb and a roomy sound. 

The EP’s lyrics focus on Hochman’s life, especially his relationships. “Honey” is about staying close to a girlfriend, while some tracks like the first one are more broadly about his outlook on life. The first track is unique in that it has no repeated lines. It sets up the expectation the subject matter of the EP will draw heavily on Hochman’s own experiences. For example, the track has the lines, “I realize I got a life ahead of me of course / but my friends and my enemies keep screaming till they’re coarse.”

“It’s not about any one person specifically, but some definitely had more influence than others. Being surrounded by good and supportive people is all you need, and that’s something the lyrics try to convey as well. As far as style is concerned, that’s the kind of thing I believe has to happen organically. We certainly did draw from melodic styles of people like Forrest but solely for inspiration. Vocal melodies are something that should come naturally from listening to an instrumental,” Hochman said. 

“For You” can still be listened to on Spotify, Apple Music and SoundCloud today.