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San Diego has a tradition of acoustic singers with storytelling lyrics to be more than just pretty voices. Laura Kuebel follows this tradition of San Diego-based singer-songwriters. We live in an age where everything can be sold individually and music is now no different than buying individually packaged 100-calorie oreos and cheese nips. Anyone can go online and buy a single without really knowing the quality of a full CD. Along for the Ride is best enjoyed when you have the time to sit down and play it from start to finish, which means it's a quality EP.

Laura Kuebel has a gorgeous voice but it's when you really pick out the story that a theme emerges from the EP. "Nowhere" is a track that hits the nail on the head about the emotions that fluctuate in a person when there's a decision and desire to leave their current life. "Start making plans, working your hands to the bone. Save up all your money, sell everything you own. Pack up what matters, say goodbye to all your friends. Glamorize what never was, what may never be again." San Diego is such a transitory city that I feel like we've all been there: sitting in that car traveling or leaving the city unsure of the road ahead. And according to Kuebel, "where nowhere feels like home.'

From "Nowhere," "Along for the Ride," "Run," and "Scar," the story of the journey is all about the aspect of leaving, finding your way, and the hope but scariness it seems of ever finding your way. By the time you're halfway through the EP, the music mirrors what happens in life. You start feeling secure in your situation.

Kuebel's songwriting gets more lighthearted with "Rocky Road," even though the story at heart is about missing someone. "Some days are just plain vanilla, and some days are rocky road. Baby you could be the sprinkles on my ice cream cone." This was my favorite song on the EP because it put a smile on my face when I listened to the lyrics. In the second half of the EP, love ("Perfect Stranger") and dreams (Kuebel's version of "Over the Rainbow") seems to overshadow earlier emotions of the ride. Along for the Ride is the soundtrack of a journey to something scarily unknown but hopeful in the end. And each song really works toward this theme and was definitely meant to be heard as a whole, not sold individually.