If you’ve gone anywhere in South Bend over the last ten years, there’s a non-zero chance that you’ve happened upon a performance by Eli Kahn. You might find him providing mood music at a winery or playing with his jazz duo After Hours at a party or headlining a music festival with the hip hop project The B.E.A.T. or providing a soundtrack for an experimental dance show or creating ambience for an art opening.

He’s practically a local cryptid at this point, playing anywhere and everywhere live music can be found with an impressive array of effects pedals and a custom fanned-fret seven-string (with two bass strings on the bottom).

His first solo record, How Are You? No Really…How Are You? is as comprehensive and delightful CV anyone could ask for from Kahn, tying together diverse influences like lo-fi hip hop, jazz, and post rock.

As familiar as I am with Eli and his various projects, I came into this record with a pretty good idea of what to expect. Even beyond seeing him play dozens of times throughout the years, we’ve talked several times about the kaleidoscope of formative musical influences, from math rock to hip hop to jazz to metal (though none of that comes up here, really). But with those fleshed out expectations, the record is at once familiar and refreshing.

From the tapped licks and hushed beats of “Acceptance” to the glitchy lo-fi of “Lost in the Sauce” to the Radioheady acoustic-and-strings of “[In My Dreams We] Levitate,” each track is an appetizing dish in a ten-track tasting menu of what Chef Eli is cooking up. I hesitate to use the term “smooth jazz” due to the implication (what else can you call the cheekily titled Pat Metheny-esque “Take a Walk on the Mild Side“?), but the unifying feel of the record is a lot like what smooth jazz thinks it’s doing. There’s no shortage of jazz virtuosity, but it doesn’t demand your attention. You can let it wash over you without much attention, but it rewards closer listens in spades.

And hey. You should buy it.