Creativity is not usually thought of as a core working class ethic. Blood, sweat, and tears make up the blue collar manifesto with not much room for anything else. Kris N. lives a life that shows there is room for hard work but also art and love and family. This all comes through on his debut album, The Burning Down Belmont EP, which is out now from Poptek Records.

Upon listening to the songs of Kris Neises, the songwriter with the shortened last name, there is an obvious honesty and simplicity that evokes the desires of the blue collared man and woman. There are the fond memories of youth, the struggle of daily repetition, the dreams of a new life and the dreams that were long ago sacrificed. On some songs listeners can even hear Kris’ two young sons playing in the background.

Listeners can also hear that honesty in the way The Burning Down Belmont EP is recorded. Kris N. disregards costly studios and worthless producers to create his music with his own hands. All this artist needs is a guitar, his computer and a kitchen and wonderfully innocent songs are set to be made. Things may be a bit noisy or messy or sometimes too whispery but Burning Down Belmont is always honest. “Recession pop” is what Neises has playfully coined his style, because Kris N. shows that it doesn’t take a million dollars, or even a hundred, to write good pop songs.

And the songs are what Kris N. is about. Great pop music has always been about simplicity, again a working class ethic. Look past the low fidelity and listeners will find an abundance of beautiful melodies. “Hot Girl List” is more audibly addictive than anything being played on the radio these days. So is “My Ode to Global Warming”. So is “Oscar Wilde”. So is “Rock and Roll Radio”. We at Poptek think it’s clear that Kris N. has made a beautiful little EP filled with consistently mesmerizing songs.

Like many others who have adopted a do-it-himself work ethic, Kris N. is quite the prolific songwriter. While Burning Down Belmont is his debut EP, the simple intertwining of life and music has allowed Kris to already finish two more upcoming albums, Lo-fi Movement and Supine Sailor. Expect them in the coming months.

So the work and the writing and the living never stop. And there is nothing more blue collar than that.