Stoners, mediators, and anger management students rejoice– Grandpa Was a Lion has come out with a new EP filled with Ambient/Chillwave/Dream Pop music that will get the most hyper person in a mellow mood. Justin D’Onofrio has the elements of this style of music down to a T. On his latest EP “Mona Lisa Apple”, he mixes ambient music with folk and indie components to create chill, mellow music to relax all listeners.

“Venus” is a slower, smooth song with dream-like qualities that give the song an almost surreal feel. There is lots of instrumentation, and D’Onofrio’s singing is so-so. On “In a Dream,” his singing is again not too bad, but is so muted that its hard to really hear him at all. The vocals are surrounded by lush instrumentation, with good use of the guitar. There
is almost a lazy way about this song, with its dreamy vibe and breezy composition. The line “in a dream” is sung over and over, which after awhile gets to be a bit boring. Maybe with a little more to the lyrics, and also cutting the song from over four minutes to half that time would help make this song a bit less tedious. “Paris” is another slower song, with D’Onofrio’s singing not quite as good as it is on the first two songs. The song puts the listener in a trance-like state, and the instrumentation is good. But there is nothing remarkable or memorable about the song at all, and one forgets it almost immediately after listening to it.

Grandpa Was a Lion creates relaxing music to help listeners take their mind off any worries and be put in a calm mood. With a little more work on vocals and on the length of the songs, Grandpa Was a Lion would have more of a chance for success!