Flow Tribe just keep on refining their horny bro-funk with each new release, but this latest EP reveals that their blue-eyed soul streak is starting to bleed through as well.

This is a double-edged sword: as their jokes get smarter, their groove slows down, and as their songs get tighter, they also grow more generic.

Of course, this is all relative.

The opening “Gimme a Line” is not about an actor who’s forgotten his place, for example.

But “Back N’ Forth” connects with that Mayer Hawthorne PBR&B vibe, albeit with a fatter backbeat, and neither it nor the straight blues-rock crunch of “Won’t Be Long” sit all that well next to the generic muddle in the middle—the colorless salsa of “Ooh Yeah” or “Gon Gitcha,” the lone track reminiscent of their early days.

It’s smoothed out enough to sway everyone but the nitpickers, but Alligator White, like so many EPs, raises more questions about the band’s future than it answers.