Counterspark is Johnny Utterback from Richmond Virginia, and his "Existence EP" is this year’s first release for Archaic Horizon. Counterspark kindles a gentle warmth and melancholic nostalgia at the heart of each of his pastoral soundscapes.

"Existence EP" by Counterspark is filled with a warm, rustic color palette and sun-washed sonic atmospheres, which it aptly captures in the cover art.

The EP expresses a delicacy in sonic depth, with subtle layering of sounds that provide a rich timbre and offer more thorough listening.

"Existence EP" is forward in its celebration of nature with a short and sweet presentation. With simple song titles like "Dawn" and "Highways", Counterspark seems to evoke a common duality of nature in opposition to industry. The critique, sonically, is soft-spoken and buried within melody and murky atmospheric ambience.

Comprised of four beatless songs, "Existence EP" feels like an optimistic outlook across countryside mixed with subtle melancholia from encroaching industry.