“You should never trust a kid that acts like me,” Chris Laufman, the principle artist behind Wise Blood, sings on “Fantasize”, the first track of the These Wings EP. Laufman crafts his music through sample manipulation complemented by his own voice, taking elements from rock, gospel, R&B, and funk and tying all of it together with a keen pop sensibility. Thoroughly difficult to categorize, listeners who can stop thinking about labels and just go with the flow will be rewarded with a catchy seven-song set.

“Darling, you’re sweet/If you wanna take my name/Then you’re going to have to run it by me,” Laufman croons on “Darlin’ You’re Sweet”, inflecting a falsetto that sounds something like Prince by way of Antony. His lyrics often display a charmingly twisted sense of humor: “Baby, I’m no man/I’ve got to confess/I’d probably kill you just to try on your dress,” he sings over a funky tuba riff on “The Lion”.

Most of the tracks are laid out across uplifting pop instrumentals. “Nosferatu” opens with a shimmery guitar solo that plants the song in a positive-feeling place, at least musically. The bonus track “Penthouse Suites” has a wobbly R&B groove that cracks a peek at a bit of soulfulness often behind all of the technical prowess. The stomping “Loud Mouths”, released online earlier this year, is easily the darkest, hardest track here and not really indicative of the rest of this set.

The These Wings EP is worth seeking out, particularly if you dug Wise Blood’s earlier, self-titled EP. Laufman has taken a big step forward here, and if his songcrafting skills keep climbing at this rate, then the eventual full-length that has been hinted at is bound to be something huge.