Summer Thieves – Paradise Down The Road
(Loop Recordings Aot(ear)oa)
Reviewed by Tim Gruar.
Summer Thieves ain’t code for remaining at Level 4 during Christmas. Quite the opposite. This is a good reason to get back into the world and celebrate. Fine grooves, a bit of indie pop, blues and soul, reggae and dub. Everything you need to make it sweet on the speakers this season.
Just imagine for a moment that you are not locked in the house, binging on Netflix. Instead, we are all vaxed to the max and out and about on a hot summer’s night. You’ve got on your finest threads. There’s a beer in one hand and glass of wine in the other. You are gently squeezing past friends and whanau, making your way down a crowded hallway festooned in fairy lights, through to an even more crowded room. There’re flashing lights, more drinks, a waft of charcoal from the barbie on the patio, and chippies and onion dip in the bowls on the tables, which have been pushed to the sides. A DJ is spinning in the corner – someone’s nephew or uncle. And everyone is getting down – to this, Summer Thieves’ second album of party classics and indie bangers.
This crew has been doing the mahi for a while now and notched up a rep for getting the party started. 10 years ago, “we pretty much played Sublime covers,” they claim on their facebook page. Since then, they’ve shifted up a few notches. From those ‘Scarfie’ covers at Dunedin house parties to some of our biggest stages. Those with tix to Rhythm & Vines, Bay Dreams, Le Currents & Soundsplash would have caught them doing their thing on the festival stages over the last couple of years.
They dropped the first album, ‘Warped’ in 2017, 12-tracks of catchy hooks & hypnotic rhythms put together by producer Tiki Taane. Last year they released an EP, ‘Bandaids and Lipsticks’, a more indie rock approach with a more polished pop music radio friendly direction. And more recently, the mature grooves of ‘Potions’ have popped up on the earwaves. And now this, ‘Paradise Down The Road’, which was written and recorded between tours, gigs and Lockdowns. Time on their hands? Doubt it!
And so the needle drops. We’re on the floor to the opener the big reggae stomper ‘Pages’, with a thumping Sly and Robbie engine room and soothing guitars interweaving a mesmerising path through the track. As the liner notes say: “just ride the wave, see where it takes you”. Guitarist/singer Jake Barton messes with his vocals, swapping between Lee Scratch Perry impersonations and a bar room rock star.
The 70’s love-at-a-party theme ‘Saturday Night’ is a perfectly blended mid-tempo groove that reminded me simultaneously of MJ’s ‘Remember The Time’ and L.A.B’s ‘In the Air’. With some very Niles Rogers style ‘hooky’ guitar grooves it’s perfect for festival slow moshing and BBQ bop sessions. I also loved the cruisy little solo on the bridge. This one won’t burn your house down but it will light your fire. “Saturday Night, I think I’m falling in love…I just can’t get enough.” Mosh pits beware!
‘Potions’ is a lighter, airy sing-a-long theme about finding purpose and direction. It’s a big theme, about the future. A call to arms. But there’s a spot of whimsical positivity in there, too: “In my rocket Ship I’m making Potions and Prophecies…looking for a better day”. Hell, we all need that right now.
‘All For You’ is a more mature traditional rocker. Parallels with L.A.B will be obvious – that mix of mid tempo soul and groove with punctuations of harder energy. I like the way it swings from sweet to slightly anxious and into almost lounge moments. In there, lyrics about dedication and loyalty. This is a standout on the album.
‘Is It Really Over’ is a proper ballad, but is held together with just enough vibrant colour thanks to Adam Spencer’s soulful lead basslines and the empathetic replies from Johnny Ward’s drum kit. Barton sings at his most vulnerable and comes across with true credibility.
Fans of Drax Project’s cruisy acoustic strumming sundowners will get into ‘Stuck on You’. Another optimistic sing-along love song that would go down well at a Six60 concert, too.
‘Paper Tiger’ takes you down a tongue’n’cheek, cockney Britpop rabbit hole. There’s a nightclub thump and grungy, driving beat and clever-by-half lyrics. Even a Renaissance Club chant – “You make me sweat!” No Rave horns, thank Smeg. Barton’s Camden-via-Otago accent slips here and there. No matter, it’s only a bit of humour. What ever the case, it must have been a good night out on the tiles. I love the band’s the bravery to go a little experimental and hope they do more of this. Maybe ditch the Sleaford Mods impressions, though.
There’s a few nods to 80’s slash New Wave on ‘Broken Home’, especially in Izzy Bones’ flashy keys and some skittish lead guitar. A big guitar/bass line gives it a Cameo or Miami Sound Machine kinda feel to this ballad driven pop number.
Barton shows his vulnerable, unguarded self on the aptly drifting ‘Floating Away’. The gravel in his vocals remind me of Tricky, although a little less menacing. There’s nothing outstanding about this song but for some reason the ambient/trip hop treatment makes me hit the repeat button and it’s been on my ‘turntable’ all afternoon. This is one I’d especially love to hear live as the sun goes down over the horizon of an East Coast beach.
The album closes with the bluesy, sympathetic ‘Three Brothers’. Regrets, drinking to a memory, reassurances to keep going, no matter what. “Take a step, not to scared to fall. Take a risk and you’ll lose it all”. “Oh my brother, your like no other….don’t change a thing!” There’s a brilliant emotional swelling, climax on this one. Over a poetic dedication to lost friends. If only Hollie Smith was available for the recording session.
Production on this album is awesome. It’s no surprise that Matt Sadgrove (Sons of Zion, Stan Walker) & Tiki Taane (Shapeshifter, Salmonella Dub and the band’s debut) have their fingerprints all over it. The sessions were all over the show, recorded in various locations as time and Lockdowns allowed. Some done at Taane’s own solar powered studio, ‘Papamoa House’. There were also some co-writes with Brad Kora & Joel Shadbolt (L.A.B) – no wonder the similarities to their stuff are popping up everywhere.
In the true spirit of collabs they hooked up with Brazilian collage distortion artist Bruno Baraldi, better known as Taki is Branding, via Instagram. “She created a number of pieces for us,” the band says on their own post, “and for each work we would give her one lyric and the song, then she would do her thing. We’re stoked that Taki helped bring this project to life.”
Get ready. Summer Thieves coming to a fully vaxed festival gig near you this summer, tag teaming with L.A.B and other favs. They’ll be thrashing this album, and quite rightly. It’s what you’d expect, demand even. It’s a satisfying mix of 70’s influenced strummers, with a bit of soul, a smidgeon of pop, a dollop of reggae, even a nod or two to the good ol’ Kiwi campfire pass-the-gat tradition. Yes, people, you want this on your playlist. File under ‘Let Me Out To Party!’
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