It Can Be Like This

Kevin Marksson wears his heart on his sleeve. Never one to shy away from big emotions, the Brooklyn songwriter has poured three years of diaries into the music of Endearments. The Brooklyn trio’s latest EP, It Can Be Like This, is no exception. While the band’s 2021 debut, Father of Wands, chronicled the dissolution of Marksson’s marriage, It Can Be Like This swings the pendulum toward the electricity of new love. The trio began writing It Can Be Like This shortly after the release of Father of Wands, but felt their earliest demos lacked the narrative core they wanted for their next record, although these sessions didn’t yield the stories that would become It Can be Like This, they cemented the collaboration between Marksson and his bandmates, guitarist Anjali Nair and drummer Will Haywood Smith, and introduced the band to producer Abe Seiferth (Nation of Language, Guerilla Toss).

Under Seiferth’s deft guidance, It Can Be Like This marries the shimmering guitarwork of The Passions’ Thirty Thousand Feet Over China with the pop sensibilities of Fleetwood Mac’s mid-tempo masterpieces. The trio weaves layers of intricate melodies into their unique brand of dream pop—Nair’s cascading guitars swirl around Marksson’s melancholic tenor, joining forces with crystalline synths, nimble basslines, and Haywood Smith’s assertive drumming. It Can Be Like This is an EP about taking chances — stepping into the unknown with the hope that something wonderful is just around the corner.