After two full-length albums and months of touring, Chicago’s Royal Osprey have recorded their most dynamic and ambitious work to date. With the release of their new EP Treasure May 26 on Orchid Collective, the band members (formerly known as Royal Osprey) are returning to their roots with the most faithful portrait of their signature style yet.

Treasure is a study in slow, intertwining guitar melodies and evocative soundscapes. The songs, penned by lead singer Joseph Murphy, are at once melancholy and achingly beautiful. “We try to make interesting sad, and the sad interesting,” said Murphy. “We focus on drawing out melodies, and just making sentimental, pretty music.”

The EP’s first incarnation was nearly complete when a collaboration between Murphy and bandmate Matt Fields changed the project’s entire direction. During a rare two weeks off work, the two experimented with the EP’s four original tracks, recording alternate acoustic versions. Murphy and Fields emerged with an alternate take on their forthcoming EP and decided to release two versions of each track side by side – an old fashioned A and B side.