A Closer Listen
On a record-breaking 106F/41C afternoon this June, I walked by Carvel Ice Cream and saw something that looked like this album cover: a dairy product that had just given up. Fortunately, no real ice cream cones were harmed in unitrΔ_Δudio‘s photo shoot.
A famous song by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett declares, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” In a similar mode, summer somewhere is a reminder that summer is not just a season, but a frame of mind, and that at any time of year, some places feel like summer, and may even exist in a state of perpetual summer.
summer somewhere was released on the summer solstice, and was inspired by time spent at the Polish seashore. The artist hopes one day “to live in a quiet house in a seaside village.” In the meantime, he uses music to bottle that feeling, like a jar filled with sea glass. Primarily ambient, the music peers into the electronic realm toward the end, as excited as a child who has just spotted the beach after a long journey. Most importantly, the set sounds like summer.
Fittingly, the album begins with the sound of the shore. After this, the synthesized keys wash in, carried on the backs on ambient waves. The tracks flow into each other, imitating the ocean. As distant voices echo in “tidewatch,” they seem like memories of the shore, beckoning one to revisit. Anyone stuck in an office on a sweltering day knows this feeling. Is it too much or just right to say that “she said waves” washes over the listener, producing a sense of inner peace – the peace that comes when one realizes the ocean is never gone, and neither is the summer?
A cassette click at the end of “left the window open” precedes some of the album’s rare lyrics, the spoken word of “the simplest days.” just you and me and the endless sea … The words drift on the ocean like a small boat whose oars have been taken in. “nothing urgent” reflects its title by taking its time: no grand choruses, nothing to get to, living in the moment. The whole album leads to the title track, nestled deep in the set like an island destination, a welcome tonal shift. The notes begin to bubble like air released from sand, turning into surf and foam by the end. Drumbeats signal that the dream of summer has become a reality. The final seconds: only ocean.
While listening, one may close one’s eyes, even in Australia, where it is winter, and remember that it is summer somewhere. This knowledge is a solace, an encouragement and an invitation, if not to the body, then to the spirit and mind. (Richard Allen)
Tue Jul 15 00:01:57 GMT 2025