Kevin Bronson on April 16th, 2019

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Talk Time’s buoyant, lush and distinctly Californian indie-rock has its roots in singer-songwriter Edson Choi’s personal turmoil — troubles that the band’s debut EP “Year of Self,” out last Friday, turns inside out.

The band came together as a result of a misdirected email. They made the EP in the good graces of a respected producer/engineer. And today they unveiled a stylish video for “Year of Self” — the latter an unexpected collaboration.

“A lot of this has ended up being providence,” Choi says.

The making of the video was orchestrated by Jensen Karp (of KROQ’s “Kevin & Bean Show”), who contacted the band to see if Talk Time were interested in making a 3D video for a series he was producing for the cell phone company ROKiT. Coming on board to direct was Danny Jelinek (Adult Swim, TV on the Radio, IFC). Comedian/actor Donny Divanian stars as a bicyclist struggling to keep up with the pack.

“There is a subtle narrative at play,” Jelinek says. “Our hero, the average rider, is in last place and feeling self-conscious  about his position amongst the others. Sometimes he tries to befriend the other riders, but they’re not having it. They are dead focused on the race. At times, he daydreams and lazily sips his water, even eats an apple casually. This is not a classic trope about an athlete overcoming all odds. This is a story about a man who is going to enjoy life at his own pace. Sometimes he struggles with this, sometimes he doesn’t.”

||| Watch: The video for “Year of Self”

It’s an apt metaphor for “Year of Self,” a song that was originally teased in 2017 while the band was still in its embryonic stages. Choi had taken some time off after the demise of his previous band Warships.

“I felt like all was lost,” he says. “Warships was doing really well, but it ended up being like one of those romances where things just flame out. I poured my heart into the band for two years, and it was partly my fault that it blew up.”

Eventually, he had a new song he thought had potential and emailed his drummer friend Mike about it. The email instead went to a musician he didn’t know very well at the time, guitarist Mike Nissen, who was a free agent after the breakup of the band he was playing in, A House for Lions. “We got to know each other,” Choi says of their work in a Lincoln Heights warehouse. “We bonded over a lot of stuff — but it turned out the stuff we fought over helped [advance the project] even more.” In between talks about Tears for Fears vs. hip-hop, pop songs vs. texture, etcetera, more songs were written.

“The fact that we got a good reaction from ‘Year of Self’ was kind of proof of concept,” Choi says. “But we just weren’t ready yet. We needed more songs.”

They were also encouraged to be working with producer Math Bishop (U2, Two Door Cinema Club, the Killers, Silversun Pickups). It was an informal conversation that got him involved. “He had worked on some Warship remixes, so we talked every once in a while,” Choi says. “He texted me one day and asked, ‘Hey, man, what’s good?’ And I said, ‘As a matter of fact, let me send you something …’ And he became part of the project at kind of a homie rate. Gotta give him credit for his pro-bono faith.”

Talk Time’s breezy music flies in the face of the foul winds of world and national events — malaise from watching cable news comes up in two of the EP’s songs — but that’s the point.

“Thematically, I wanted to rep who we are and where we are from,” Choi says, adding with a laugh, “Also, I wanted something I could sing and not hate myself for later.”

In that way, the dream-pop excursion “True North” anchors the EP. It’s the first song on which Andrew Smith collaborated as well — and kind of a memo to self about minding one’s own personal compass.

||| Stream: “True North”

“I knew when we were writing ‘True North’ that it was the centerpiece,” Choi says. “I’m much more aware of ‘direction’ now now. I was wide-eyed with music before, but with the direction the world is going, there’s part of you that wants to make something that’s important and vital. We’re all a cell within a cell within a cell. ‘True North’ comes from that spirit.”

As Talk Time prepares to celebrate their release tonight, Choi is thankful the Fates have smiled on them thus far. “In this city, you never know quite what you can do you to help yourself,” he says. “And sometimes help comes out of nowhere.”

||| Live: Talk Time headlines the Bootleg Theater tonight, joined by Opus Vitae and Georgi Kay. Tickets.

||| Also: Stream the EP in full via Spotify