Stream: Highland Kites, ‘I’m Not Weak’

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Highland Kites

Just because you have weaknesses doesn’t mean that you’re weak. That’s the overriding theme of the new Highland Kites EP, “I’m Not Weak” (arriving July 29), the second in as many summers from singer-songwriter Marissa Lamar and drummer Neil Briggs, who are now joined by guitarist Alex Edwards. Lamar, who embarked on songwriting as emotional therapy after a debilitating battle four years ago with Lyme disease, calls the five-song collection “all of my heart.”

“It’s my darkness, my light, my past and my future, my sadness, my happiness, my resolutions, hopes, weaknesses, strengths and all my love for being alive,” she says. “It’s a resolution of my past and the idea that the future can be endlessly beautiful.” Lamar’s anthems of self-empowerment materialize as edgy, atmospheric burners anchored by the singer’s bold vocals. Like last July’s “Let Me Run” EP, the new release was produced by Raymond Richards, who also contributes guitar and bass. All the way through to the EP’s closer, “Temporary Life,” Highland Kites remind that our mortal coil may ebb and flow and eventually go, but the spirit that inspires its soundtrack prevails.

||| Stream: “I’m Not Weak” and “Temporary Life”

||| Live: Highland Kites celebrate their EP release with a show July 27 at CAP Studio (13752 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks), joined by Livingmore and Tieg Johnson.

||| Previously: Ears Wide Open