New EP by Speed the Plough features an unlikely collaborator, harpsichordist Anna Clemente

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Speed the Plough, the long-lived chamber pop ensemble from Haledon, specializes in a pastoral take on indie-rock that soothes, caresses and calms the soul. Most Jersey bands may descend from the punky Warped Tour or alternative rock’s Lollapalooza, but Speed the Plough’s roots conjure a Renaissance Fair — and never more so than on Songs With Anna, a four-song EP that teams the band’s signature sound with Anna Clemente, a harpsichordist from Italy.

This unlikely partnership began several years ago when John Baumgartner, one of Speed the Plough’s founding members, received a missive from Clemente asking if he was the composer of “A Plan, Revised.” That track had…