Kevin Bronson on July 20th, 2017

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Love has a hold on Kelcey Ayer. It might not be a warm embrace, but it’s a hold. Ayer — for more than a decade one of the creative forces behind L.A.’s Local Natives — today unveiled his solo project Jaws of Love. His debut album “Tasha Sits Close to the Piano,” an assemblage of melancholic ballads, will be released Sept. 22 via House Arrest.

Besides the fact there is a gorgeous canine involved — Ayer’s wife named the album in honor of the couple’s dog — there is much beauty here. Ayer worked on the project around Local Natives’ second and third albums, 2013’s “Hummingbird” and last year’s “Sunlit Youth.” As in the title track, he dissects pitfalls of affairs of the heart with soaring vocals and understated but cinematic production flourishes. That they are sad songs is a curiosity, considering Ayer’s own life.

“I used to think that in order to write about love, something had to be wrong,” Ayer says. “I often got my material from pain, or insecurity, or problems — I thought I couldn’t write a good love song because I am in love and it’s going so well. But I’ve grown to realize that even in the most amazing relationships there are turbulent times and misunderstandings that are unavoidable. And that doesn’t mean that anything is doomed, but love is such a complicated thing. The idea of ‘jaws of love’ felt so perfect for this project because it’s all about love’s trials and tribulations.”

Ayers recorded the Jaws of Love songs at Electro-Vox, the studio where Local Natives made “Sunlit Youth,” with engineer Michael Harris. The band’s Matt Frazier drums on the record. Jaws of Love makes its live debut on Sept. 21.

||| Stream: “Jaws of Love”

||| Live: Jaws of Love plays Sept. 21 at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Tickets.