Release Date: June 25, 2021 Genre: Indie Pop, Alt. Rock Label: Cherry Lime Records The Dallas, Texas, trop-pop duo Summer Salt is back once again with their second full-length record, Sequoia Moon. It's the duo's follow-up to their successful debut EP, Driving To Hawaii (2014), and their first album, Happy Camper (2018), as well as the series of EPs Honeyweed (2019), Favorite Holiday, Vol. 1 (2019), and Avenue G (2020) that followed over the last couple of years. Summer Salt is made up of vocalist and guitarist Matthew Terry and drummer Eugene Chung. The duo recruited the renowned music producer Phil Ek, best known for his work on many albums from Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Built To Spill, Fleet Foxes, to name a select few, to produce their brand new twelve-song collection of tunes. Summer Salt's second album Sequoia Moon is something that is simply put as special. Not every day does a band produce a catalogue of songs this deep with little to no change in musical direction, with no song sounding like another, or the sound becoming dull. Ultimately, Summer Salt have stayed true to their music. They added the slight use of extra percussion, additional layerings of guitars and vocals to the songs that add the subtlest aspects to their sound, the duo of Terry and Chung continue to provide tunes that will captivate audiences for a lifetime. Summer Salt's second record is just a furtherance of why their releases Happy Camper, Honeyweed, and Avenue G, placed the Texas duo as one of the genre's largest prospects. Their past album and EPs also lead them over one million monthly Spotify listeners, touring the entire globe, and landed them on Live Nation's Ones To Watch list. On their second outing, Summer Salt delivers twelve summertime hits that make you want to hop in the car with your friends, roll out the windows, let that nice warm breeze hit you in the face, hit the open road, head to the beach, and have a nice day out in the summer sun. Sequoia Moon is a sure collection of tunes that should make their way on everyone's soundtrack of the Summer. The album opens with the stellar opening track and the album's second single, "Clover." Summer Salt stays true their sound right out of the gate. Immediately as the song begins, I could imagine the warm air breezing through my hair, sitting on the beach, and enjoying a warm summer afternoon in the sun. However, lyrically, the track has nothing to do with that and tackles the common ol' subject of messing up and making mistakes but finding that best friend -no matter if that's a person or a furry companion- to pull you through it all.
On the third track and subsequently also the album's single, "Hocus Pocus," Terry's falsetto hits a little bit different with the lighter instrumentals on this track that's about wanting to make amends with a person that you likely never will. More so, dealing with a past relationship of Terry's. Additionally, the track acts as a goodbye letter to that person. The album's summery lead single, "Monday's Fácil," continues to take you a warm place with its infectious melodies. "Monday's Fácil is about the "get busy living" attitude and how as the older you get, you're trying harder and harder to stay in the moment and to make it easy.
A handful of other standout tracks include "Lewa Lani," "Trouble In Paradise," "Two of a Kind," "Colors of Your Love," and the album-closing, "Marielle." The group takes things a little slow and even a tad jazzy on "Lewa Lani," which translates to "highest heaven." The number is a slow-tempo track that produces a feeling like you're soaring through the clouds. On "Trouble In Paradise," the duo continues to provide hit after hit with another mid-tempo tune that uses additional percussion and added layers of guitars that lay heavy through the song's seductive melodies. "Two of a Kind" has this atmospheric mystique to it that's extremely hard to describe. It's something that has to be experienced through listening to the track. "Color of Your Love" is another subtle number that's intense in its own way and ends with a fun little instrumental that would have anyone grooving around. Additionally, it's one of the few tracks on the album that dates back to early as 2013, before the release of their debut EP, Driving To Hawaii. Sequoia Moon closes out with the track, "Marielle." The final number opens with a folky, country-esque intro, and the track blends a little of everything the album has to offer and is one satisfying end to their second album.
Be sure to preorder Sequoia Moon on vinyl and/or stream it on your preferred music streaming service upon its release on June 25th through Cherry Lime Records.
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