Last week, Goldwash released his new EP, Episode, a collection of four songs written during the artist’s first year living in LA after graduating from Yale University in 2016.

“It’s not intended to be narrative but all the songs have to do with the uncertainty of my first year out of school, navigating relationships, independence, desires, needs,” the artist explains. “I wanted the music to be lush and polished without losing the raw edges that inspired it.”

And lush it is. The angst-ridden “dance-while-you-cry” music is a layering of interesting and often surprising bits and pieces that come together beautifully under Goldwash’s clear and soulful vocals. He truly has succeeded in his aim to turn “shitty experiences into positive things” by “goldwashing (aka gilding) pain into art.”

While Goldwash cites TV On The Radio and the Dirty Projectors as two of his influences, there is no doubt that his music is new, ear-catching, and exciting. So new, in fact, that it deserves its own genre, “Existential Funk,” because as Goldwash says, “jazz-infused indie-electronic baroque-soul” was a bit of a mouthful.

Check out these new tunes for yourself below: