This won’t seem like high praise to some of you, but the latest EP from Sockets Records’ Aaron Thompson gives me serious flashbacks of Ryan Adams—-not Ryan Adams the raffish alt-country singer, or Ryan Adams the ill-conceived retro rocker. I’m thinking of the one who sang Love Is Hell, an underappreciated paean to heartbreak and mopey ’80 guitar pop. Now, granted, Thompson’s lyrics won’t make you cringe, and he’s got some serious instrumental and atmospheric chops. But he’s found that same key of gentle misery.

You can pay what you want for the EP on Thompson’s Bandcamp page, or download it in a few weeks from the iTunes store, or wait until Thompson drops an album later this year (it’ll feature all three of the EP’s tracks). Or stream it after the jump: