Hailing from Ellicott City, Maryland The Dangerous Summer have never been a band to court attention or to bother the charts, their music is too intimate for that. They make music to be passed between good friends like a special secret or a vintage whiskey. However, their latest album finds the band stepping further towards the light and delivering a dozen tracks that are destined to become alt-rock anthems. Gravity comes liberally soaked in sublime song structures and marinated in melody to satisfy their fanbase and win them many new admirers.
Taking their name from the book by Ernest Hemingway, The Dangerous Summer have always been a tad more literate than their peers. Subsequently, each of their songs is like a novella inside which a multitude of characters play out everyday dramas. When you factor in a cinematic sound that captures moments in time like Polaroid pictures you have a selection of songs that will brand themselves on your memory bank like retinas being burnt by the sun. That’s exactly what happens with opening track ‘I Feel Like More Like Myself When I’m Losing It’, a song which ingrates itself into your psyche with the aid of of shimmering guitars and soaring vocals which are threaded together by a nifty drum pattern. With a huge, sing-along chorus this song (as with the whole album) is sure to suit the live environment and quiet contemplation equally well.
The confessional nature that has been ever present in the band’s sound, yet now it has an authoritative quality that has come from the punches that life inevitably throws. It’s born from the toll time takes and it gives authenticity to cuts such as ‘Clouds In My Eyes’ that can’t be denied. It takes a Morrissey, a Lowry, or a Dangerous Summer to find the beauty in life’s trials and tribulations and they do so ably over these dozen songs. Many of these songs have an introspective, wistful quality and revolve are the theme of time which in turn gives the album a concept feel. Being an album that flows exceptionally well, Gravity heads towards a thoughtful conclusion with ‘Into The Stratosphere’, an ethereal number that wisps past like bleach white clouds in an azure sky.
A career-defining album from an era-defining band.
- Gravity is released via Rude Records on 21st June 2024.
Track List:
- I Feel More Like Myself When I’m Losing It
- Pacific Ocean
- Gravity
- You’ll See It All Coming
- What’s An Hour Really Worth
- Turning Love Into War
- Where Did All The Time Go
- With My Pen
- Wild One
- Clouds In My Eyes
- Dream
- Into The Stratosphere
