Marston and Baldi open “Outside” with a contradiction I keep tripping over: a song about wanting to hide indoors that sounds built for sprinting down a sunlit street. The title track is brisk, rhythmic, all soaring hooks and power pop muscle, while its narrator quietly plots an escape from the cheerful crowd. It’s an anthem for anyone who has smiled through a party while mentally drafting their exit.

That tension is the whole EP, really. Giorgio Baldi, an Italian guitarist, songwriter and producer, and American-born songwriter Matthew Marston fold their decades of experience into a cross-cultural blend of indie pop melody, electric guitars and new wave atmosphere. The result is nostalgic without getting stuck in the past.

“Tell Me Something” is where I started dancing and then felt slightly guilty about it. A deep, pulsing low end and shimmering synth sequences push the groove forward, yet the lyrics are about a couple stuck in the same old fights, the narrator tired of hearing about flaws they already know by heart. Arguing never sounded this danceable.

Then “Tears Of Joy” flips the mood entirely. Retro synth-pop, a hook that keeps climbing, and a narrator stunned to be rescued from a guarded, heartbroken past. It’s giddy in the best way.

“Hope In The Darkness” starts gently and swells into a dense, crashing wall of sound, chasing the idea that we look for a mirror in a partner when what we need is contrast. “Take Me Down” closes things with a chiming lead line over a steady mid-tempo pulse, hidden feelings finally surfacing, and a promise to stay present no matter the distance.

Across five songs, the duo keeps asking the same thing: do we run from people, or toward them? The music answers with momentum, the lyrics with doubt, and somehow both feel honest.

Maybe the point of “Outside” is that the door swings both ways. Which side of it are you standing on tonight?