Young Summer's full-length is finally here, and after a long stream of great singles, we're pleased to announce that she left plenty in the tank to ensure that the album didn't arrive gasping and wheezing with nothing new to add to the mix. Indeed, it seems like she actually held back a bit, and saved some of the best for the last push of tunes we see here in her album. Don't get us wrong, we're big fans of tracks like "Waves That Rolled You Under" (and pretty much all else she's put out), but we're actually more excited by the fact that she's got a whole album of material that's just as awesome as her most successful early releases. SIREN is a twelve-track project, so things could have easily gone south after a few songs, but Bobbie Allen keeps the boat on an even keel for the album's entire runtime, and if you were worried that some of that magic in songs like "Taken" and "Fever Dream" was going to vanish as your ears explored the deeper cuts, don't, because it's all still there in spectacular shape. As far as some of Summer's older releases go, don't miss out on "Waves That Rolled You Under", "Siren", and "Taken". All of these have already been met with both critical and popular acclaim, so it's possible they're are old news for you HD readers, but even if this isn't your first listen to them, we suggest you take another pass through you sift through the new stuff. There's something special about listening to an album in its entirety, and oftentimes songs take on whole different meanings and brand-new life when enjoyed in the context of their fresh sonic counterparts. Imagine the previous singles like chapters of a book out of order (but beautifully so), with the new ones (the new tracks) now allowing you to read the story (SIREN) as it was meant to be told—in order, from start to finish. Summer's consistency of her sound creates an amazing and orderly listening experience, to be sure, and all three of the aforementioned tracks will become favorites as you start to enjoy them more in the context of their natural habitat. With all of that stuff said, we know you're really here for the new stuff, and fortunately for you, there's plenty of that to go around. "Blood Love" and "Cage" are two of the strongest in this category, and if you're looking for music that shreds up '80s instrumentation and then repackages it into a slick, very modern package, you needn't look further. "Blood Love" is a more upbeat and hits harder than the majority of her other songs, but she keeps all her sonic traits blended nicely, so you still get that signature Young Summer flow which we've come to absolutely adore. "Cage", on the other hand, is on the darker side of the SIREN's sonic spectrum, but once again, it's tempered with Summer's distinctly soft-edged vocals and what mellow production work coasts effortlessly behind her. The final product fits in nicely with the rest of her music, and contributes to a very distinct sound (not unlike the pastel-colored tints that overlay and unify all of her album artwork). It's a clever angle, "Cage" proves to be, and it's one that will ensure Young Summer's formidable set of vocal chords gets all the attention they deserve moving forward. It's been about a year since Bobbie released her album's first single, so SIREN has seemingly been a project a while in the making, but, upon hearing all the wondrous contents of it today, we can say without hesitation that it was all very well worth the wait. We like to think that it'll be making a lot of regular appearances on Hillydilly playlists in the near future, but more than that, it's our hope that the work permeates to a wider audience, enrapturing those in pursuit of a lovely tone, terrific songwriting, and a fresh pop sound to wrap it all up. Unfortunately, SIREN does not come out in full until August 26th (cue the sad faces), but you can catch our favorites from it below, stream its entire contents through USA TODAY, and pre-order now on iTunes while you wait.
Young Summer