Isador Kaufman’s debut EP, Scattered Efforts, is a “collection of songs about happy and sad.” It’s his first solo album after his former band, Watergate Sandals, disbanded in 2017. “I was in a bit of a creative rut for a while there,” Kaufman says, and is grateful to have re-found the creative energies to make Scattered Efforts. Some tracks have a bit of a Mac Demarco thing while others have a sometimes spacey, sometimes beachy psych rock feel. The simple description of “Pop” does not do this work justice. It’s an honest and raw collection, written, performed, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Kaufman himself. He recorded and mixed on Pro Tools then mastered songs on an old Foster 4 track cassette player he bought off Craigslist. As a first effort at production, we’re impressed. We’re also impressed that he decided to donate 100% of the proceeds from EP sales to Planned Parenthood. Stay tuned for tour dates and his second album, which is in the works as we speak. Like we say, stay tuned. – Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor
