Jack Davey, frontwoman for the Californian electro-soul duo J*DaVeY, has gone solo. But for a singer who has opened for Prince, the Roots, and Janelle Monáe, the five-song EP falls distinctly flat. Davey’s voice, sultry, breathy, and deep, is wasted on what she calls “stripped-down grunge” and her attempt at “introspective” songwriting. The sound is whiney, messy, and simple, and seems more fitting to a debut album than an EP by a relatively successful artist striking out on her own. Not only does it sound unprofessional, but she proudly proclaims that it was “literally recorded [in] the walk-in closet in my Koreatown apartment.” In the case of L0-F! Side A, this is not an accomplishment.

Though Davey touts her EP as being a five part song, each part is indistinguishable from the next. The second track in particular, “Howl at the Moon” (the unfortunate highlight of the EP), is an especially poor use of her voice; Davey’s airy attempts at howling along to the tune, and any tolerable musical motifs she managed to compose, are overshadowed by poorly disguised distortion and computer-generated modifications. Very little praise can be given to her lyricism, which is pretentious, unnatural, and forced (think back to the emotive poetry you may have written in middle school), and fails to stir the slightest emotion in the listener.

While she gets points for trying, Davey should leave the creative process to the other half of her original duo. There isn’t much else to say except that sometimes sticking to what you know is the way to go. Save your iTunes credit; there are fledgling bands on MySpace with better EPs.