Elle and Shealeen Puckett, sisters born and raised in the American Southwest, comprise the band Poema. The female duo has been playing music ever since they can remember. At ten and twelve, the equal and opposites would walk to the local gas station to play Elvis covers for anyone filling up that day until they made enough money to buy candy.

The sisters have history. They’ve survived a house burning to the ground, countless tours spent sleeping on floors and in parking lots, every manner of car trouble possible, and even a record deal coming to an end. After years performing in their hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, the sisters decided to migrate to a more musical terrain. In 2013, they moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

With a new city comes a fresh sound. “Nashville is a place that sharpens your artistic senses. More than anywhere else, it makes you aware of the flaws in yourself and the areas that need improvement,” says Elle. “For this last collection of songs we gave ourselves complete freedom. No boundaries, no time limits, and nothing to distract ourselves from pulling out the best material we could.” And that’s exactly what they did. On their five-song EP, Pretty Speeches, Poema has ebbed back to their pop roots, slowing it all down with lax guitars and swirly keys to invoke images of swaying palm trees and languid waves. It’s soulful. It’s groovy.