Hey Tasha, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. Could you tell us a little known fact about yourself?

Wow I could really take this in so many directions, but I’ll keep it simple. I love dinosaurs. Paleontology, Jurassic Park – all of it. (My favorite dinosaur is a stegosaurus.)

You’ve recently released a new EP, Grey Light, but what does this symbol of “grey light” mean to you? Is it the dawn after a long night, a truth gradually coming through the fog of uncertainty, that middle ground between life’s highs and lows?

Grey light to me is all of the above and more. A grey day is usually characterized as moody, gloomy and sad. But I think that the light on a grey day actually makes all the surrounding colors that much more vibrant, against the backdrop of bright greyness. So perhaps a seemingly sad scene is a better lens through which to notice the beautiful things. It is the middle ground, it’s the grey area, introspection. It’s being open to the unexpected, it’s about embracing and accepting melancholy.

The EP is made of four tracks, which act like chapters of a book. Did you write these chronologically or did the order come later?

I did not write them chronologically and the order naturally took shape later in the process of recording the project. But yes, they are essentially four chapters of the book of my life, strung together by the red thread of experiential learning and a need for reflection. They’re all centered around different experiences on the spectrum of love – and the many hiccups, highs and lows on the roads through relationships.

Who or what are your biggest inspirations behind your cross-genre sound that brings together indie-R&B, soul and singer-songwriter styles?

My biggest influences and inspirations span time and genre and always have. From a musician standpoint, a few of my most cherished classic influences are Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Joni Mitchell, Chet Baker and Stevie Wonder. Some more modern names are Amy Winehouse, Annie Lennox, Lianne La Havas, Laura Marling, and Raye (I clearly love my Brits!) I’m inspired by music and lyrics that capture feelings like lightening in a bottle. I’m influenced by color, paintings, conversations, film, the ocean, and books. The genre-bending is simply a natural result of pulling from many different wells of influence and sensibility. I’ve never known what box I fit in, but the older I get, the more okay with that I am.

This record’s concept hones in on your theory that relationships operate like a mirror, or house of mirrors, to the self. Which song felt most like looking into your own mirror?

Hmmm, well the diplomatic answer is that all four songs were my own mirrors at different moments in time. But I suppose “What About After?” feels the most like looking into my own mirror. It is self-aware and ultimately defiant, yet also admits wrongdoing on my end and calls out bad behavior on behalf of the other person in the relationship. There are several metaphors in the lyrics about reflections and that was very intentional. I also feel this song connects to the experience we have sometimes, where we catch our reflection in a mirror and almost don’t recognize ourselves. The times in my life I’ve experienced that disconcerting moment have felt like a reckoning of sorts.

What else do you hope that listeners will take away from these songs?

Well, we see what we’re looking for, right? So hopefully music & lyrics speak to listeners in a way that resonates with their own experiences and feelings in the present moment.

I hope they can relate to the messiness of being human. I think it’s tough to be granular with writing but also keep it open to interpretation…but hopefully the feelings I’m aiming to capture are legible, so to speak. I’m a big proponent of learning by doing & trial by fire! With this method, you will certainly experience pain, but you also open the doors to growing and hopefully finding someone and something that makes you glow. I hope that comes through in my words. Investigating ourselves and looking into our own reflections is where wisdom lies. And yet we’ll continue to fall down rabbit holes and make mistakes as well. I’m a lifelong student and I hope this music carries and encourages that curiosity, that openness to facing our dark corners and dusty surfaces with the hope of coming out the other side with both complex questions and satisfying answers.

What’s next for the project?

Well, I’m grateful to have released this music in every sense of the word, and for one thing I am trying to be present in this experience. But I also regularly perform these songs at my gigs around New York City. If more comes down the pipeline, I’ll be sure to share about it across platforms. But honestly, I’m just riding the wave of this release and seeing where it takes me.

Follow Tasha Solomita on Instagram.