Call it consistency or call if lack of sonic diversity, but Soulive sound like Soulive wherever they’re establishing themselves on 1999’s Get Down!, covering the Beatles as on 2010’s Rubber Soulive or making music for imaginary films as they do on Cinematics Vol. 1.

It’s a low-key collection that smolders rather than burns and the song titles – “Bluebird,” “Waves” – give listeners insight into what was going through the players’ minds as they composed and performed the tracks.

Tapping in to their tried-and-true formula of lightly psychedelized, proto-soul/jazz, the instrumental trio of guitarist Eric Krasno, drummer Alan Evans and keys man Neal Evans pick up where they left off with 2012’s Spark. And this new, five-song, 18-minute EP – the first in a promised series of tone paintings inspired by phantom celluloid – proves the band a perfect fit for the bite-sized format.