Silas Short - Drawing (EP) - 45RPM

Silas Short’s debut EP on Stones Throw, Drawing, is one of those first statements that feels both carefully crafted and off-the-cuff, like a sketch that turned out to be the finished piece. He sings in a high, feather-light register, stacks harmonies in patient layers, and moves his guitar lines like watercolor across the page. It’s soul music with a soft-focus glow and a quietly adventurous streak, rooted in the Midwest but reaching for a timeless pocket.

Short’s story feeds the sound in a way you can actually hear. The Milwaukee-born, Chicago-based singer suffered a serious hand injury as a teenager and had to relearn the instrument, developing a fluid technique he’s called “liquid style.” The guitar doesn’t stab or strum so much as ripple; chords smear into one another, lines curl around the vocal rather than competing with it. That physical history comes through as touch. You hear it in the gentle swells, the clipped flourishes that never grandstand, the way each phrase settles into the drum groove like a breath you don’t rush.

“Cloudy June” became the doorway for a lot of listeners, and it still feels like the thesis. A swing in the hi-hats, a bassline that saunters rather than stomps, background vocals slipping in like sunlight through blinds. The hook is deceptively simple, the kind of line you hum two hours later without clocking where it came from. Short doesn’t ride the arrangement so much as lean into it, letting small melodic turns do the work. The effect lands somewhere between modern indie-soul and the classic slow-bloom feel of early aughts neo-soul, but without the retro cosplay. It’s present-tense and personal.

The rest of the set keeps that intimacy while changing angles. He’ll tuck a clipped guitar figure behind a soft Rhodes pad, then let a bass fill answer his falsetto. Little production choices carry a lot of weight: handclaps that pop in the sides, subtle tape haze, reverb that hugs instead of swallows. Nothing is loud for loud’s sake. It’s the kind of restraint that rewards repeat listens on a good system, which is where Drawing vinyl really shines. The low end rounds out, cymbals breathe, and those stacked vocals blend into a single velvet ribbon. If you’re the type who scans new arrivals at a Melbourne record store or scrolls late at night to buy Silas Short records online, earmark this one. It belongs next to other Stones Throw sleepers that reveal themselves slowly rather than yelling for your attention.

Short plays with expectation in small ways that stick. He’ll slip into a wordless refrain just when you expect a bridge, or let a guitar figure carry the outro instead of chasing one more chorus. The songwriting is concise, more Polaroid than panorama, yet there’s enough detail in each frame to keep you in the scene. You can trace lines to D’Angelo’s vocal layering, to Curtis Mayfield’s gentle falsetto, to the muted guitar color of Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor era, but the blend is his. That’s the trick of Drawing: it reads like an introduction and a signature at once.

Stones Throw has a knack for finding artists who color slightly outside the lines, and Short fits that lineage without sounding like anyone on the roster. There’s a DIY glow to the production, but it never feels thin or half-baked. Instead, the mixes leave air around the vocal and bass, a choice that lets his phrasing land. Even when the tempos tick up a notch, he never crowds the pocket. It’s music built for windows-down evening drives and late kitchen cleanups, all those life slots where you want warmth without weight.

If you collect Silas Short vinyl, this EP is the anchor. There aren’t many Silas Short albums on vinyl yet, which makes this pressing feel like a small stake in the ground for a career that’s still taking shape. For folks hunting vinyl records Australia wide, it’s the sort of record you recommend to a friend who asks for something soulful and new, but not flashy. And if you’re just streaming for now, that’s fine too. Drawing feels good through earbuds, but on wax the percussion loosens up and the harmonies bloom, which fits a project that’s all about touch and feel.

Short arrived with a backstory, sure, but the music holds its own. Drawing is tender without being flimsy, confident without being loud. It’s an EP that announces a voice you want to follow, and a set of songs that keeps you close enough to hear the details.