The idea of a music journalist declaring “x, y and z this year’s Summer Hit!” is lazy and tired, but I’m at least one of those things. Harley Alexander, who featured on 80N7’s All-American Edition, is just the right blend of luminous and languorous to occupy your headphones during the summer (or dreams thereof). Combining the feel-good swagger of retro surf rock with the otherworldly psychedelic vibes of MGMT, Gold Shirt is the musical equivalent of a holiday sunset where you can do little more than sip drinks, suppress yawns and look at your surroundings with a silly grin.
Opener ‘Lookin for Love is a good introduction to the record, with it’s easygoing charm and grateful lyrics backed by radiant instrumentation and peppered with psychedelic oohs and aahs reminiscent of Evangelicals. ‘Running Thangz’ is more cosmopolitan, the soundtrack to the coolest 80s crime show never written in which both the good and bad guys wear shades and leave one too many buttons undone on their shirts.
“No, I own this floor – this dance floor is my home
Paint your world the colour that’s gonna make you twirlOoOoOoOohhh we in the same zone
trust your body leave your mind peacefully at home”
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‘Baby Blue’ sounds like the more recent Damien Jurado releases, while ‘Trust’ ramps up the tropical ambience and ‘Beautiful Brian’ takes us even further afield to a cosmic paradise, opening with a sound-clip declaring “the only thing I believe up there is the UFOs.” ‘The Finest Scent’ follows the planetary theme with spacey drone before evolving into a joyful pop song that could grace any commercial radio station.
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Harley Alexander makes bright music with the sharp edges removed, doped, loose-limbed pop songs, dreamy from a lack of responsibility and washed out from too much sunlight and salt water. This is the sort of music you want to listen to during those small, glorious moments when Real Life backs off to allow an elated contentedness to settle, where the smallest things give you a sense of wonder and joy.
You can buy the album now from Harley Alexander’s Bandcamp page.
P.S. the artwork is by Sophie Wonfor.