“I started Split Screens as a solo project, to explore the tension between what we are and what we want to be,” says Jesse Cafiero, the band’s singer, songwriter and front man. “In movies, a split screens lets you see something that’s going on in two places at the same time, a look at a single reality from different perspectives. There’s something surreal about a split screen; a quality I strive to capture in my songwriting.”

Cafiero succeed in his goal with the Split Screens EP he released in 2012, a quiet excursion into a world steeped in sadness and introspection. With the exception of drummer Rory O’Connor (Tycho, Com Truise) and the vibraphone of Geneva Harrison, Cafiero played all the instruments on the EP himself. To create the music on Before the Storm, he enlisted members of his live band - Phil Pristia, guitar; Debbie Neigher, keys; Kyle Kelly Yahner, percussion - with O'Connor, Harrison and producer Jeremy Black (Apollo Sunshine) reprising the roles they played on the EP. “It took a full year to make this album, from the first day of tracking to the last day of mixing, it gave us plenty of time and freedom to experiment with new instruments and colors throughout the recording.”

The music on Before the Storm has the same wistful quality that made the Split Screens EP so compelling, but it’s more upbeat, a breezy album that flows like a buoyant pop symphony. The sighing sustained notes of Cafiero’s lap steel and the expansive gospel-flavored keyboards of “Stand Alone” mimic the breathless, swooning feeling you get when you’re falling in love. The impressionistic lyrics and serene vocals add to the song’s inviting warmth. A punchy horn section and Rory O’Conner’s propulsive, multi-layered percussion add to the funky R&B feel of “Home,” a celebration of life’s simple pleasures.

Cafiero started Split Screens after relocating to San Francisco in 2010. He was born in Pine Plains, a small town in upstate New York, and grew up playing stand up and electric bass in jazz bands. “I’ve been playing piano since I was five and took bass lessons for 12 years, starting when I was 14,” Cafiero says. “I graduated with a BA in music and soon after began playing bass professionally with jazz, folk and rock performers, live and in the studio.”

In San Francisco, Cafiero continued working as a sideman, but his interest in psychedelic music, coupled with his discovery of the sonic possibilities of the lap steel guitar changed the course of his creative life.“I became a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and bandleader. I’ve always written melodies, but didn’t think about writing songs until I started working on my EP.”

The Split Screens EP was recorded with producer/engineer Jeremy Black whose use of analog tape delay added an expansive aura to music’s poignant, heavily layered melancholy. Before the Storm shows Cafiero moving to a new level of melodic and lyrical sophistication. “I’d like to write fun songs withnonsensical lyrics, but it’s against my nature,” he says. “I’m more interested in exploring and understanding the hidden undercurrents that flow through life and inform our relationships.”