If COVID-19 has been good for anything, it has been for otherwise touring musicians to collaborate on one-off projects without scheduling conflicts. Such is the case with K.C. Jones, the artist formerly known as Kelli Jones, and the Revelers’ Daniel Coolik. They took advantage of the pandemic’s gig-shuttering downtime to record this digital EP consisting of five jazz standards and one French pop tune.

Don’t expect these renditions to closely follow what Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Frank Sinatra crooned in their day. Instead, these versions are heavily layered and drenched in reverb, resulting in a surrealistic, loungy hipster, ambient pop aura. Coolik plays guitar and mandolin with seemingly endless effects and tones while Jones sings lead and background vocals. Both complemented their parts with various harmony lines for added depth.

The experiment started with the subdued “When Your Lover Has Gone.” The two liked the results so much; they continued their artistic experimentation, as evidenced by “Where or When” with its hazy Brazilian Astrud Gilberto vibe. Coolik gives French chanteuse Françoise Hardy’s “Temps de l’amour” a spaghetti western intro. “Lullaby of the Leaves” gyrates to pulsating 6/8 rhythm that’s instantly hypnotizing.

As a vocalist, this could be Jones’ best recorded performance yet. She makes “Where or When” her song and “Skylark” a haunting memory. It all begins to make sense on “Laura” when Jones sings: “She gave your very first kiss to you / And that was Laura / But she’s only a dream” over a fluttery Twilight Zone motif. Indeed, it is a mysterious dream where hardly anything can be explained sensibly. It’s not the kind of five-hour energy-fueled music that will get you pulled over for speeding, but you’ll definitely feel altered once you arrive.

Clever stuff; brilliant stuff.