One thing about prodigal songwriters, lyricists, and all musicians alike, is that they all have a very unique sound to themselves, and they spend countless hours tuning, perfecting, and improving on that one aspect of their musicianship. Summi strikes me as one of that kind; and on his latest 10-piece EP, “Wake Up And Smell The Roses”, we get to witness more of that craft. Keep reading to see what I think!
Summi’s sound is distinctive– filled with lofi Rhodes pianos, spacey reverbed vocals, and strong melodic themes everywhere. The opener, “Rise”, is an experiment on chords, and sounds like somebody jamming in the studio room– an atmosphere I’m very familiar with, and love. “Fallin”, the second track, is sweet, balladlike in its presentation, with long chorus sections with delicious harmonies that play perfectly into the melody-heavy nature of this song. Throw in a lovely little video-game-like transition into a sweet backbeat that resolves back into the original 4-on-the-floor drum beat, and you have a track that remains interesting throughout its duration, and that, I loved. The use of voicemails, and other voice notes throughout the album is also something I came to quite appreciate, in their ability to weave this story together.
The experimentation comes back strongly in the third track, “makeup”, with a flavourful detuned piano in the background complemented with great adlibs, great bounce on the hi-hats, and a slightly more lyrical focus that zeroes in on rhyming schemes, complimented further by a Post Malone-esque alternation between sung and rapped sections that keeps the interest of the listener firmly between their ears, listening to what’s unfolding in there.
‘vices’ makes great use of the guest vocals, using them as texture and instrumentation layers, and makes for a very sing-able (if that is a word) little package– and other special mentions from this track include the darker presentation with “Ego”, the closer with “Steps”, and the guitar-led “eggshells”.
Overall, “Wake Up And Smell The Roses” by Summi, is a great package of variety, of that one sauce that many, many of the greatest songwriters in the world possess that skyrocketed them to being legends. This EP gets my two-thumbs-up recommendation! Check out “Wake Up And Smell The Roses” here:
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