Were I a betting man, I’d have no problem putting down a year’s rent on venturing that Matt Mondanile is probably what college freshmen colloquially refer to as a “chill guy.” This is a man who once wrote a song called “Killin the Vibe” (lyric: “Don’t go killin’/ Killin’ the vibe/ I can’t take/ Your lame style”) and plays guitar for Real Estate, whose 2011 record Days is the finest example of a band turning the classic Dylan lyric “jingle-jangle morning” into an ethos. A not-entirely-fair critique of Real Estate is that a lot of their songs sound the same—the band would beg to differ—but there’s no doubting a similarity of instrumental elements. On his own time, Mondanile’s solo recording project Ducktails has offered a peek into what Real Estate might sound like if they began coloring outside the lines, mixing genres while staying true to his pastoral roots. (Similar to how guitar predecessor Roger McGuinn guided the Byrds through several identities while still sounding like the same band.)  His newest EP, , picks up where The Flower Lane left off, playing with electronic textures to further evoke a reflexively hazy attitude toward the way of the world.
 was made with the help of fellow New Jerseyians Big Troubles, but on Mondanile’s returned to recording by himself. Even so, little remains of the patchy, wandering quality that colored earlier Ducktails material. He’s become better at harnessing disparate elements toward a congealed whole: the swirling synthesizer reinforcing the resonant strum at the beginning of “Honey Tiger Eyes", the sustained tones that lend “Tie-Dye” an eerie, otherworldly quality when combined with Mondanile’s breathy vocal. Where went all over the place, ’s brevity makes it a set of variations on a theme. This is mood music, best exemplified by bucolic instrumental “Naive Music” that sounds like a really great jam session... with himself. Mondanile isn’t making any grand departures from Real Estate’s core theses, but he’s using a wider range of tools to look inward and keep the vibe going. Your tolerance for that vibe may vary; reviewing , Steven Hyden wrote that “after a while Mondanile’s attachment to the pleasantly ephemeral starts to feel like a dodge.”