Like your favorite sweater that makes you feel content and secure as soon as you put it on, Summer at Land's End just feels like music you have always wanted to listen to. The balance between memorable melodies, haze, jangle, and poignant and lovelorn observations is perfect. Creator Glenn Donaldson released three previous albums as The Reds, Pinks & Purples closely preceding this record, and while each qualified as a perfect nugget of that cherished category of beautiful music that may prompt tears, this new one seems like the publishable dissertation in Glenn's study of relationships and finding peace in love and loss.
For us,
Summer at Land's End by
The Reds, Pinks & Purples plays as a dream pop soundtrack to a montage of memories, relationships, scenes (actual, altered, or even feverishly imagined). Of course it wasn't specifically tailored for our lives, loves, wins and losses, or for yours. But we venture to say that you can snap these songs onto your life and find it a good fit -- the humanity and observational clarity is that good. Singles from the album, "Don't Come Home To Soon" and "Let's Pretend We're Not In Love" struck us at first listen as the best songs were were likely to hear this year, and our opinion still holds. However, we haven't streamed them below (we did feature each of them previously) because we think that the best way to showcase the quality of
Summer At Land's End is to reference you to the four-song run of "Pour The Light", "All Night We Move", "Tell Me What's Real", and "Upside Down In An Empty Room". This is incisive, flowing pop songcraft at its best. We really would not want to be without these songs in our lives, and it is about time they arrived.
Summer at Land's End is out now in digital, CD and vinyl formats via Slumberland Records (US) and Tough Love Records (UK). Note that there also is a limited edition vinyl version that includes a second record of new instrumental songs.
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