It always starts quietly. With a breath. With a hush. With someone humming alone in a room. That’s the entry point into Eli Lev’s new EP Past Lives — and, by extension, into the second part of his ongoing trilogy project Three Worlds. The hush carries depth. There’s a whole world underneath it. A world where memory lives — not static or archived, but pulsing, mutating, seeping into the walls, and speaking through the cracks.

Eli Lev’s EP ‘Past Lives’ is an intriguing snapshot of an artist who’s actively piecing together something bigger than just another folk-pop record. Eli Lev, the Maryland-based songwriter whose reputation is shaped by narratives sewn from threads of emotional intimacy, turns inwards, opens himself up, and serves us something genuinely stirring. Eli Lev always comes across as one of those artists focused entirely on his own lane. He builds instead from within — digging deeper into his own lineage, his own voice, his own quiet mythology — that hazy meeting point between the personal and the ancestral.

‘Past Lives,’ as the second chapter of Lev’s ambitious ‘Three Worlds’ project, holds all the markings of an artist who’s fully committed to his creative vision. It’s a remarkably human EP, one of those records that quietly asks for your attention rather than shouting at you to listen. And believe me, the subtlety here pays off: this is not background music. This EP, crafted with an earnest delicacy, becomes a meditation on history—not history writ large with capitals and bold strokes, but the quiet, understated history of personal journeys, lost moments, gentle triumphs, and soft-spoken tragedies.

And you know what’s interesting here? Eli Lev leans into nuance and subtlety, presenting his subject matter with care and clarity. His folk music arrives untouched by cliché, grounded in a vision that favors truth over fantasy. What I love about Past Lives is how open Eli Lev lets the whole thing be. You can tell every piece was placed with care, but it never feels stiff or overworked. It lets things be messy in the way memories actually are — more vibe than timeline, more texture than clean narrative. And somehow, by the end, it all clicks together anyway.

I definitely want to highlight the track ‘Echo‘ — it sets the tone for the entire record, gracefully unfolding the album’s central theme: the relentless flow of legacy through time. This is a tender folk-pop piece, with hazy, flowing vocals, a warm, slightly blurred atmosphere, and deeply intimate storytelling. The opening moment of the EP arrives with a quiet vulnerability.

‘Where We Come From’ is a soft, luminous country-folk ballad where Eli Lev guides the listener through his past — through choices made, places left behind, roots unearthed, and emotions captured in delicate, almost weightless lyrics.

‘My Wish Was You’ stands out as one of the coziest and warmest moments on the EP. The track is built on gratitude, acknowledgment, and gentleness. Its atmosphere feels light, almost transparent — and that’s exactly where its strength lies.

‘Who I Was’ brings the past and present into one space. Gentle keys layered with faint vocal echoes create a fusion of timelines. It becomes easy to forget where the music ends and the memory begins. Eli Lev performs with meditative precision, allowing room for reflection.

The final track, ‘Our Friends,‘ closes the album on its highest emotional note. Here, Eli Lev opens the door to shared memories and the presence of loss. It’s the culmination of the EP, where all the built-up tension gradually shifts into light.

If I had to put it into one image, Past Lives plays like a musical memoir — looking back with clarity and walking alongside every version of yourself that still lives somewhere inside you. The you that moved, changed, grew, remembered. Eli Lev taps straight into that space. He writes from deep within memory, where emotions live in fragments, timelines blur, and meaning builds from the quiet parts. It’s full of weight you carry without always naming it — until the music does it for you.

Past Lives plays as if you’re flipping through a photo album you’ve carried for years without opening. One moment Eli Lev shares his story, and the next — it becomes your own. Not through volume or spectacle, but through flashes. Emotional muscle memory. Scenes that surface with quiet certainty.

The EP moves with calm focus. Every part flows soft and steady — stripped of noise, full of care. The songwriting stays close, written in stillness and built to hold meaning without raising its voice. There’s tension in the softness, weight in the pauses, warmth in the restraint. The impact comes through clarity and trust in the craft.

It stays because it gives room to feel. The first listen opens the door. The second brings recognition. Soon you’re tracing your own past, your people, the way time holds its shape. Eli Lev makes space for all of it. Past Lives reaches inward, holds steady, and reveals what was already waiting.

Some records pass through. This one remains.

The full EP drops October 8, 2025, and honestly, I’m counting down. If these early listens are any indication, this one’s built to stay with you.

*This review was made possible by SubmitHub