It wasn’t a comfortable night. It was cold, the kind of cold that slowly seeps into your skin, layer by layer, until your bones shake and rattle in the unwelcome accompanied wind.
It wasn’t a comfortable night. This music venue was outside, at night, several miles away from my toasty blanket and cat that doubled as a heating pad and technically, it wasn’t even a music venue. It was a backyard porch where some frat had decided a brilliant way to make some extra cash was to exploit desperate bands and college students who wanted to try acid for the first time by hosting a “concert” on the same stage where they regularly whistle at girls from.
They were uncomfortable, and I sure as hell was uncomfortable. There was nothing in my red solo cup, I knew very few people and the only reason I was there was because my roommate was trying to date some idiot who didn’t know his keg from his elbow. This was uncomfortable.
Then they started playing, and suddenly I found comfort.
Soma Sky started regularly putting out music and playing different venues in 2021, although the band has been Pedram Paayaan’s brain child since 2019. Him and vocalist Jordan Lane have been creating what they call “balloon music,” a floaty yet somehow weighty Persian influenced punk rock genre that you really can’t seem to shake, like a piece of red rubber filled with helium dancing amongst the clouds taunting you with their flight. According to manager Daisy Jaelinne, they are an impeccable yin and yang, with Lane writing somber lyrics and Paayaan constructing colorful guitar tunes. They say creating such a tone is like a perpetual trust fall on a tightrope rope, but they master it with lyrics that make you seek death, and a guitar riff that makes you smile while you do it.
Their psychedelic tidal wave of dancy guitar and well crafted vocals is not only something that deserves an Ez Encore, but something to throw on a playlist when you feel like Hozier isn’t screaming loud enough. Speaking of, their Spotify debut is just around the corner.
Although hard to choose, one of my favorite parts about the band is their name. Soma, a drug found in Aldus Huxley’s novel Brave New World is a mandatory serotonin enhancer that creates a world without free choice, mind and body, and sky is used as Paayaan’s preferred eternal bliss. Soma to get you to the Sky.
All in all, for being such a young band they are absolutely jam packed with musical talent. Paayaan has a clear and recognizable sound on his Gibsons, where he can not only shred but has the self dignity to know when to play low and slow while Lane’s oak toned vocals which teeter between early Eddie Vedder and Robert Plant, coat the songs in harmony. My only complaint is that some of their pre-recorded songs are mixed a tad muddy, but that dissipates when you hear them live. If you’d like to listen to their music, follow them on Instagram (@somaskyband) and please, for the love of God, book them at a place that isn’t a frat house.
My entire interview is linked down below, thank you Soma Sky!
Ez's Encores 
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