Common Senselessness is just about what you’d expect from a companion piece to Dennis Ellsworth’s 2019 album, Common Senseless. The five-track EP is a collection of songs that were left off of the original album. Ellsworth released them as an EP, but also bundled them into the original tracklist to make a Common Senseless (Deluxe Edition), available on Bandcamp. With this in mind, it’s only natural that the sound doesn’t take any major departures. Ellsworth’s carefree outlook and willingness to kick back and smoke away his problems is just as prevalent here.
In fact, this EP is a good taste of the overall flavours present on Common Senseless. “Lower Your Standards” opens the EP with a lighthearted shrug. Its optimistic tone is comparable to previous tracks like “Sunshine Is Free” and the first album’s rendition of “Step Into The Light.” Meanwhile “Brass Pipe” is Ellsworth’s charming ode to an inanimate object that has been there through all the scenery changes in his life.
Ellsworth’s ability to balance these tracks with the more sentimental ones is an art, particularly in such a small package like this. “Lost River” has the tender rhythm befitting the perfect slow dance. There’s an interesting layering in the guitar that builds as the song goes on, eventually bleeding into the vocals as well. It’s a shining example of the production on Ellsworth’s tracks completely elevating them to something special.
This EP also features two new collaborations. “Made For You” is the lead single from the EP and was co-written with JUNO award-winning singer-songwriter Donovan Woods. “Step Into The Light” also makes a return to close off the EP. While the sound and arrangement remains largely the same as the initial version, the key difference here is the collaboration with Nova Scotia-based artist Reeny Smith, who’s won a whole slew of awards during her short time on the scene.
If Common Senseless somehow eluded you the first time around, now is the perfect time to dive in. While Common Senselessness is fun in its bite-sized nature, it really shines brightest as a finale to the original album. One thing is definite – any fans of the original album will have no trouble vibing to this one as well.