You know how it goes. You're schmoozing your soul away until you check your phone and suddenly it's 12:30am. Less suddenly do your eyelids peel open a few hours later. You're tired, you're very possibly hungover and you know, deep down inside, it's just gonna be "one of those days."

When I find myself suffering from writer's block, or exister's block in this case, I turn to music for my remedy of choice. That being said, I can't listen to just anything in my library to gently nudge me back into reality. Albeit great, X, Arctic Monkeys, James Brown and Meghan Trainor won't do this particular trick.

I need music that offers a few key ingredients: hopefulness (to remind me that one foot does in fact go in front of the other), a pinch of honesty (to prevent my hopes from getting unrealistically high) and wistfulness (to constitute a natural transition and not a forced one). Some good finger-plucking is always a plus as well.

I found all that in The Amber's debut EP. The L.A.-based trio is still in its embryonic stage and thusly still primarily unknown (for now), but their combined talent is clear. Members Florence Hartigan, Libby Lavella and Ryland Shelton list their key influences as Fleetwood Mac, Mumford & Sons and Simon and Garfunkel, which gives you an idea as to why I can't help but associate their music with the scent of fresh-brewed coffee and the light of the morning.

Listen to "Sinner" below for something that sounds like swimming in a sea of cotton and feathers feels.

Yea, I just got schmaltzy on you. Deal with it.

xx,
Samantha Hissong

P.S. The Amber will perform at L.A.'s Hotel Cafe on 7/19; details here.