Released in September 2017, Part of Me is the first in a proposed trilogy of EPs from amiable Philadelphia indie folk trio Good Old War.
It follows 2015's slickly produced full-length, Broken into Better Shape, which saw the band buffing up its earthen folk-pop in a bid for mainstream success.
It was their first release for the Nettwerk label and also their first effort without founding member and one-third of of their namesake, Tim Arnold, who left in 2014 to start a family.
Returning to the fold here after a three-year hiatus, Arnold brings with him a sense of scaling back down to the band's roots as a scrappy acoustic trio with a big heart.
Warm and roomy, the five tracks on Part of Me deliver some of the soaring feel-good intentions of their preceding release, but in the more compact, intimate setting that has always been Good Old War's bailiwick.
The band's pop sense remains in full effect on the hooky title cut and the sweet harmonic shuffle of "Only a Number," the EP's two biggest standouts.
While they are earnest almost to a fault and continue to steer far clear of any real danger, Good Old War nonetheless manage to manufacture their own kind of magic on this pleasing short release.