Artist: Summer Burnett
Title: It’s The Little Things...
Keywords: diy electronic alternative alternative rock guitar indie indie rock psychedelic psychedelic rock Portland
Label: Girly Girl Musik https://girlygirlmusik.bandcamp.com/
Not much is known around here about Summer Burnett, is it a person, a band, a group, a manifestation of super heroes? But sometimes the lesser we know the better the music experience is, letting it all come in through unbiased ways, but mostly through the ears… anyway, this release by Summer Burnett that’s just recently been brought out on the fairly new label ‘girly girl musik’ is a good way to get to know the ‘Summer Burnett’ sound.
It’s one that might sound quite rough and raw around the edges, as if it’s fried in hot oil, but not long enough to get it all burned. It also comes across like it is made by the powers of someone who doesn’t have anything to hide, had a good view on life and has no breaks or fears what the neighbors would think. Summer Burnett stands firmly in its own shoes and feels happily confident in there.
The release starts with a song about ‘new pants’ which rambles along as if these pants had been found at the front door of a charity shop and have been happily nicked before it’s openings time. It has that kind of mentality in sound; a bit naughty, a bit nifty, a bit like being pulled a weird face in your face and you liking it all quite a lot…
You might have guessed it right; it’s one of those (almost) indescribable music productions that will make my head spin – just to get the words, sentences and mental imagery right.. my attempt in giving it a righteous review or a well cleverly written write up probably isn’t going to work all too well, so I gave up and listened to the second song on the album which is ‘happy’.
Happy is also coming across as a nice rambling sensation, rattling along with a voice that sounds free and slightly piss taking itself and the surroundings. When the voice of Summer Burnett sings that he is happy to be alone it feels like a statement that is hard to differ, the singer really is sounding as if he threw any borders away and had tossed all possible shame in the bin to make music, sing and write songs and haven’t a single worry on its mind if anyone would like it or not. Not that any of us know this for sure, but that’s just how it comes across; very care free and quite the humorist actually.
With 2312 the music seems to have a little hint of computer bleeps as a backdrop. At first it made me think that this must be the some kind of kraftwerk kind of work, something in which Summer Burnett drops the computer love.. but crazy enough it was about something completely else: you got to hear it to believe it. I still can’t find ways to describe any of it. But as long as you are here reading I guess it’s all fine. You get the point; confident music that doesn’t sound squeaky clean or overly polished but has a good sense of self spot and sense of humor.
The song ‘Pinky Swear’ has a more drowsy feel to it, with a heavy guitar that sounds as if it’s doing its best to burn a hole in the feel good vibes, similar to the same way that the accidentally dropped ashes of a cigarette had been ruining your sofa. It’s a heavy mood over here, while still making you feel as if it’s not all that serious that is going on over here. Is he singing about a silly raccoon?
There is a song called ‘dettol’ which has this spaced out rocker kind of glow to it, something that feels like the ideal cleaning song. Dettol is probably some kind of miraculous stuff to remove dubious stains & this must be the way Summer Burnett showcases its love and affection for this product. It’s probably a bit like me, sneakily and occasionally dropping the Jamaican beer ‘dragon stout’ in my work in the hope that one day the manufacturers will notice and come up with some kind of sponsoring plan. (Send the boxes of Dettol to Summer Burnett please and the boxes of Dragon Stout to my address; thanks a lot!)
The next song is ‘union black’ is quietly liberating the form of getting yourself cuckoo. A bit of poison for the tormented creative mind has never killed anyone, but definitely gets someone slightly f*cked up. This might have been the secretive fuel for the music & lyrical contents of Summer Burnett. So maybe next to the box of Dettol the shop with the black out windows should send Summer Burnett a crate of Union Black too… or even you, the new (and old) Summer Burnett fans might now know what to get to make Summer Burnett happily making more stuff!
At the very end we have ‘into the void’ in which we can hear the voice of Summer Burnett mumble while a slight menacing repeating guitar oriented line gallops along like a cowboy on a horse traveling with a deferment confidence towards the new horizon. I should probably pay a lot of attention to what this voice is saying, but instead I just listen to the overall sound and feel that this is the end and beginning of more Summer Burnett adventures. Goodbye Summer Burnett, see and hear you next time! What a jolly ride!
https://girlygirlmusik.bandcamp.com/album/its-the-little-things
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