Summering

Summering | Summering

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by trevor elkin

“You said you’d see it through. Until it saw through you…”

Difference is sometimes what makes the difference. Add to that some cosmic synchronicity and you’ve got the makings of something really special.

Vancouver’s Summering began as a favour: the story goes that five musicians (all involved in other bands at the time) did a solid for a friend who needed a support act for a one-off show. According to later interviews the reaction to that first gig, a back yard rent money party in downtown east end Vancouver was amazing. Despite this delicate nascence, Summering carried on and have become a band that embraces the tension of its diverse influences.

It’s a joy to listen to a group who clearly puts their differences positively to work. Folk, punk, metal and electronica all play an equal part in shaping their sound. Take, for example, Paul Stewart’s introspective, vulnerably earnest voice. Its alt-folk flame flickers, shining abstract beams into the darker, tumultuous waves of feedback and saturated guitar laid down by Mathew Durie and Mohammad Sharar. Zach Treble, whose other projects include the deep techno/house beats of 1800HaightStreet, provides a deft rhythmic framework for Ryan Bekolay’s rumbling, thick bass lines. Our ears, hearts and souls succumb to this perfect storm, because it’s familiar, yet like nothing else we know and everything we love.

“You always cover the receiver with your hand, why don’t you want them to listen, why don’t you want them to understand?”

Like a resting heartbeat, ‘In Linear’ begins with stark, tense repetition and hints at the immediacy of what will follow. Gradually building in volume and complexity that boxes us in. Layer on layer, shroud upon shroud, crashing cymbals and screaming guitar finally explode into a white-out. And that’s just track one. It’s at this point the enormity of this band’s mission and ability to deliver it hits you. In an instant you are connected, plugged into Summering’s electrified spaces, its heartfelt words pushing us ever forward. ‘Careful Creators’ epitomises this intent and purpose. They are the careful creators of our reactions, whether we love what they do or hate it – there is no room for half measures. Summering are in this all the way. The title track and the descending, ambient drone of ‘x’ which follows couldn’t be more different in style. Like day and night, there is common ground in the twilight space between. ‘Summering’ is perhaps the only track that courts familiarity, with its steady, downbeat pace and story of failed heroism it wouldn’t be out of place on Trials of Van Occupanther.

“Under someone else’s concrete plan, you’re not even a name or the print of your own hand. You become so dependent.”

‘Concrete Plans’ fades in with a sample taken from the Voyager recordings of Jupiter, like gigantic shifting and spinning magnetic plates. Apt symbolism for the manipulation of society through faceless, hidden forces. Unlike Muse though, Summering turn a conspiracy into a story that is relevant, personal and, eerily, somewhat more believable. Like a rising tidal wave, this is not an album to let wash over you. It needs attention, respect and your emotional co-operation. With the shortest track just shy of five minutes, Summering are all about constructing an experience with the listener. An experience combining the chaotic highs of howling tremelo guitars and powerful, soaring chords with the crashing low of ambient bleakness. The pivot point, bringing balance to this otherwise bipolar mix, is the wholesome, utterly listenable timbre of Stewart’s vocals.

Invest some time in ‘Summering’ and we hope you’ll agree, this is one of the most accomplished debut albums this year. Listen (loud), below. - Gold Flake Paint

We previewed the self-titled album from Vancouver rock band Summering back in March, when we got excited to hear a new project from Paul Stewart: a folky and slightly unearthly bedroom artist we had been fans of for a long time. Stewart is just one member of the five that make up Summering, but it was enough to grab our attention. Here’s what we said all those months ago:

“The album takes the formula of Stewart’s previous releases and stretches it panoramic, bedroom pop on a mountainous scale, a departure from his norms in all the right ways. The band build dense layers of guitar which, paired with rumbling bass and crashing drums, create something imposing, a monolith rising through the fog.”

The great news is that the full album has now been released, and the promise saw at the start of the year has been realised. Eight songs of dense indie rock which borrow as much from the cathartic peaks of post-rock as they do from the slow and spectral sound we’ve come to associate with Stewart. We begin with ‘In Linear’, with it’s slow and considered start, all open spaces and dark winding guitars and Stewart’s signature vocals. The “choruses” spike with heavier instrumentation, our first taste of the album’s post-rock tendencies, while the gentler verses are full of lines like:

“You always cover the receiver with your hand
why don’t you want them to listen
why don’t you want them to understand?”

‘LAFK’ opens with almost martial drumbeat before the advent of inky and slinky guitars, eventually blooming into a track which fuses a sheer rock passion with emotive vocals and reflective air of something else entirely, bringing to mind earlier Winterlseep releases and particular the music of Brian Borcherdt’s Dusted project. The song is punctuated by moments of almost pure silence, where the only sound is the receding reverb of the previous burst of instrumentation, a sound you can’t be sure doesn’t exist only in your inner ear. Eventually things build to a pinnacle, ending in a furious cacophony of pounding percussion and squealing guitars. ‘Careful Creators’ gathers itself and then comes crashing to life, the vocals sad and oddly serene, floating in during the intervals between the noise (“To be alive is to be alone”).

The title track is a patient and vaguely ominous song, guitars rolling in like surf on an abandoned shore, while ‘x’ shakes things up with its shimmering, shifting ambience, like ice crystals gliding through the great black expanse of outer space. A discordant clang announces the arrival of ‘Temporary Widow’, which has shades of Explosions in the Sky, epic crests of feedback and pummelled drums surrounding the soaring vocals like a big staticky storm cloud. ‘Concrete Plans’ marches out of a drone that sounds like some kind of cosmic wind, the drums holding a rhythm that feels almost heavy rock.

“Under someone else’s concrete plans
you’re not even a name
or the print of your own hand
you become so dependent”

Finale ‘Words’ is epic and reverberating, stretching over the nine minute mark and enduring all manner of tumult in its duration. It converges into perhaps the heaviest maelstrom on the entire album, before descending into a lull at the very finish, just sparse guitar and Stewart’s vocals, like the strange glowing hush in aftermath of a tempest.

“It’s alright if your words
don’t come as easily to you
if everything is overheard
maybe they’re not supposed to”

This is an album that has it all. It’s pretty easy to turn to cloying metaphors to describe the sense of vast space it conjures, the poignancy or Stewart’s vocals, the pure tangible noise that the band can summon. It takes a little bit of everything and melts them down into something that’s quite unique. Something that is quite distinctly Summering.

You can get Summering now via the Summering Bandcamp page. - Wake The Deaf

17.

Summering – Summering

Self-released

BUY

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Blasting in like a chinook wind, Canadians Summering left us enraptured and probably a little obsessed with their self-titled debut. This is an album that is undoubtedly greater than the sum of its singular parts, which in themselves are awesome pieces of well-crafted, multi-layered music influenced by psych-rock, folk, grunge, ambient and punk among others. The delicate balance of these powerful influences is held under control and commanded by the modest, fragile voice of Paul Stewart. We said it was probably this year’s most accomplished debut, “an experience combining the chaotic highs of howling tremelo guitars and powerful, soaring chords with the crashing low of ambient bleakness”. Nothing we’ve heard since changes that view.

Apparently beginning as a favour: the story goes that five musicians (all involved in other bands at the time) did a solid for a friend who needed a support act for a one-off show. According to later interviews the reaction to that first gig, a back yard rent money party in downtown east end Vancouver was amazing. Despite this delicate nascence, Summering carried on and have become a band that embraces the tension of its diverse influences.

It’s a joy to listen to a group who clearly puts their differences positively to work. Folk, punk, metal and electronica all play an equal part in shaping their sound. Our ears, hearts and souls succumb to this perfect storm, because it’s familiar, yet like nothing else we know and everything we love. - Gold Flake Paint

“I’m a vegetarian,” Zach Treble, drummer for Vancouver-based post-rock band Summering tells Noisey. “And here I am at a meat draw.” Set up bingo-style, the draw is held at The Princeton, a bar with brutal Google reviews—“terrible service, rude staff”, “the food makes me sick”—that feels like somewhere your alcoholic father would hang out after a curling bonspiel. It only makes sense that a bunch of mid-Canadian expats would gather here. In other words, it’s perfect.

Having formed a little over a year ago, the boys of Summering started jamming together when a visiting friend’s band needed an opener. With all members involved in various other musical endeavours—from folk to electronic—they joined forces to create an ad hoc group. It wound up becoming much more. “We played our first show at this notorious little punk house in the East End,” Treble says over a pint of PBR. “It was this thrown together rent party. We performed in the backyard and it was just packed. Word spread pretty quick from there.” With a handful of shows in Vancouver and a series of small tours around British Columbia and Alberta now done, Summering will embark on a Western Canadian tour March 5 before releasing an album this summer.

Hailing mostly from Alberta (Treble was raised in Winnipeg), each member of Summering brings a distinct influence to the group. Outside of the band, Treble lends his percussion talents to Outside Dog and 1800HaightStreet. Guitarist Mohammed Sharar previously played in political hardcore project In Vacuo. Bassist Ryan Bekolay has roots in punk, and guitarist Matt Durie also plays in a metal band. It all comes together in a wave of noisy rock wonder. “I think we’re a bit of a different band than what is happening in this city,” says Treble, regarding the state of Vancouver’s music scene. “There’s not a lot of bands that are doing what we’re doing.”
With a rumbling three-guitar undercurrent, Summering’s music is ambient but hard enough that your head doesn’t swim. Lead by Stewart’s poignant and self-aware lyrics, each song builds before crashing down in a tumble of high-hat and shimmering guitar. It’s the ideal shoe-gaze soundtrack for any wine-drunk stumble home. “I’ve noticed that when we get a good response from a live show, it’s a great response,” Treble says. “Like they were crying or something.” Building layers of guitar over heartfelt lyrics will do that to any emotionally inclined individual. Add chest-rumbling bass and it’s in the bag. “It’s definitely a special thing to be playing in a project that you’re bringing this emotional part to,” says Sharar. “It’s fun to create a mood and a tone and to get everyone on a certain level.”

When it came to recording time for demos, the guys went about it in an Albini-esque way:straight off the floor. Recording all of the tracks live at Monarch Studios in Vancouver allowed the process to be efficient and cost-effective. Fitting with the clean, opaque thrash sound of Summering, recording live also allowed the energy and intimacy of live performance to be captured. While the balance of ego can sometimes be difficult, it takes care and craftsmanship to know when things are necessary and when to step back for a measure.

“It’s so tempting to just play the whole time but it’s the subtleties that make it work,” Sharar explains. “We always try things out when we’re jamming. If things are conflicting and getting too busy, one of us simmers down. Or sometimes all of us simmer down at the same time, which is even better for bringing it in again.” For Treble, it’s the space in between the different instruments and the blending of guitar tones that creates the trippy ambience.

“I’m just so happy with it,” Treble begins to say before the meat draw ticket salesman comes around and Sharar starts waving his strips of top sirloin around. “This is the most proud I’ve been about a project. I’m so excited to show people.” Apart from meeting like-minded friends and bandmates as the lucky dudes of Summering were able to, Vancouver is a difficult city to start a band in. From finding an affordable and safe jam space to coming across venues that cater to smaller bands, there is often a void between real D.I.Y. acts and larger, promoted events.
“Venues are the hardest thing,” Bekolay explains. “It’s a pretty shitty city for that. They have this Vancouver entertainment district where they’re trying to push everything to Granville. No one wants to party down there. It’s garbage.” With tight liquor laws making it tricky to open new venues, most people end up putting on shows in warehouse spaces. Although these rooms are often ideal in their secrecy and tendency for ample bathroom space, they can be tricky to promote due to having to quietly message people with a location and running a militantly tight-ship for fear of being shut down. “I feel like Vancouver’s always had a pretty admirable reputation as far as arts go and then moving here I was like ‘wow’,” Bekolay says. “It’s so tough to get a show at a real venue. It’s all so monetarily focused.”

Despite the difficulties of booking shows in Vancouver, Summering has set their sights on releasing a full-length and touring as much as possible. “I would love to go overseas and tour forever,” Treble says. “Being able to play music to strangers and see their reactions and make a connection, that’s my favourite part. I would love to be able to do that as long as I can.”

Jillian Groening is a Winnipeg-based writer. Nobody won the meat. @jill_groening - VICE Noisy

Dada Plan, Summering, and Ora Cogan are all bands that one could reasonably describe as “spacey.” Although the term lacks nuance and doesn’t really do justice to the uniqueness of each band, there is no denying that their respective sounds wouldn’t seem out of place if found in some kind of galactic transmission. When it was announced that they would play a show together at the Planetarium, my first thought was, “Of course. How could they play anywhere else?”

The stars, quite literally, had aligned.

Little had changed at the Planetarium since I’d been there fifteen years ago—including the skies. The renderings of space were less an exercise in realism and more a video gamey interpretation. But this obsolescence was fitting.
Discorder_Orga_Cogan_by_Matthew_Power
Ora Cogan || Photo by Matthew Power

It’s strange to look up at the cosmos and think that it could “probably be in higher definition.” This is a modern day irony that bands like Dada Plan revel in, and it set a surreal tone for the evening. Plush high backed seats and carpeted floors made for a show that was subdued and reverent rather than loud or energetic. With the cosmic ceiling of the planetarium hanging above, on-stage banter felt almost taboo. The artists themselves hardly spoke at all.

All the musicians played in the dark, putting emphasis on the projections cast behind them. Matt Krysko, Jared Brandle, Mohammad Ali Sharar and Collin Elder all contributed visually, and the styles were as distinct as the personality of each band.

Ora Cogan began with her ethereal country tunes. Although it’s a bad pun, it’s true that her voice has an alien quality. Her words were indistinct but it didn’t seem to matter —she delivered her melodies in a haunting way to a rapt audience. Slow motion fauna served as a nice visual accompaniment to her show, but it didn’t seem to be as seamlessly linked to the music as Summering’s visuals did.
Discorder_Summering_by_Matthew_Power
Summering || Photo by Matthew Power

With a piercing lead vocal and a penchant for hard hitting drums, Summering’s set was all the more intense in the darkness of which it was played. At one point, all of the band members were heads upward to the electronic sky, playing their instruments while watching a strange digital shape above them, as enraptured with the spectacle as the audience. In this moment and others, it was evident that no hierarchy existed between audio and visual. Each was as much a part of the show as the other.
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Dada Plan || Photo by Matthew Power

Dada Plan closed off the night. Their incomparable brand of drum-machine driven psychedelia echoed throughout the planetarium exactly as it was supposed to. Extended instrumental breaks only added to the reverie and the saxophone work of David Biddle seemed particularly otherworldly when bouncing around inside this dome.

We didn’t talk much as we left. All the clichés about universal one-ness that I usually spew after a good show are just funny when you consider that we really did watch a universe spin around us all evening. But this show wasn’t about words, it had transcended words through the universal language of music. - Discorder

Today (October 22), Vancouver act Summering have let loose their self-titled debut. Exclaim! is happy to offer a full stream of the album now.

The release shows a band who are coming out fully formed, offering a collection of brooding, emotive indie rock that perfectly balances down-tempo slowcore with triumphant post-rock explosions. It's an impressive collection that positions Summering as a Vancouver act to watch.

Listen to Summering in full below. The band will also perform a release show tonight at the HR MacMillan Planetarium with Dada Plan. More information on that show is available here. - Exclaim!

ANCOUVER — The art of irony is thriving within Vancouver-based rockers Summering. Vocalist/guitarist Paul Stewart cedes that while their name conjures happy-go-lucky imagery, the music is actually much darker.

Where the moodiness comes from is debatable. Everyone is from, what Stewart calls, the “big, desolate open plains” of Alberta except Winnipeg drummer Zachary Treble. The overcast, rainy Vancouver days spent indoors “striking three notes on a reverb pedal and stringing it out forever,” as guitarist Mohammad “Sonki” Sharar describes it, has probably also seeped into their collective creative subconscious. “As far as the chord progressions, that’s more the Albertan side,” he clarifies. “It’s got a little crunchiness to it.”

If you haven’t heard much about Summering yet, it’s because although they’ve been together for nearly two years, they kept a low profile until they felt they had something worth putting themselves out there for. Their self-titled debut album took about a year to pull together in part because two of the members work for months at a time on an out-of-town farm. Their sound is almost as elusive to pin down as the musicians. “To me there’s a lot of ’90s alternative rock mixed with tastefully incorporated post rock tones,” says Sonki.

Across the table from Sonki and Stewart at a Chinatown coffee shop, steps away from the restaurant/bar kitchen where the former recently began working, the energies exuding from two-fifths of Summering’s members neutralize the atmosphere. Sonki is charismatic and jumps in first with his responses, which meander when silence threatens. Stewart is pensive and deliberate. Despite being oft interrupted he never loses track of his train of thought.

Likely it’s a combination of Stewart’s calm demeanor, unwavering love of making music, and talent that make him the nucleus of Summering. Stewart, who has a solo acoustic project, wrote all of the songs and lyrics on Summering’s upcoming self-titled debut LP. Much of it deals with technology, although that may not be obvious upon dissection of the lyrics. His bandmates help flesh out the songs. Going forward, this formula could change. “I just don’t want you to think that it’s fully realized yet. But that’s kind of the fun part.”

Technology is also a hot topic of conversation. Namely, it’s Stewart’s slow assimilation and unchaining from his desktop computer. A self-confessed “homebody,” it’s the bane of his existence on tour. He is looking forward to long hours crammed into a van (the entire band is exceptionally tall) making music on a new laptop. Sonki has a history with video games, which explains his SEGA tattoo and his nickname. “I don’t game anymore,” he says ruefully, “It’s immersive as hell! I get anxiety because I know I can be doing other things.”

Summering aims to provide their own immersive experience when the band plays their album release show this month at the Planetarium, including visuals by Sonki and artist Jared Brandle. The guitarist has a visual arts background in photography and animation. “Our songs are really long. There’s a sense of patience to them too. It’s particular. I sit down when I play actually.”

Stewart agrees, “Not everyone likes long songs…but they’re pretty fun to play.”

There’s that Summering wit again.

Summering perform at the HR MacMillan Space Centre on October 22 and Paul Stewart plays a solo set opening for Little Wings at the Media Club on October 21. - Beatroute Magazine

Regular readers may be familiar with the sounds of Paul Stewart, the Canadian who makes introspective and atmospheric modern folk music (not unlike the Field Medic release we featured recently). Summering is a band from Vancouver of which Stewart is now a member, along with four other musicians with a variety of backgrounds, mostly from the more abrasive end of the musical spectrum such as metal, punk, techno and hardcore. These three tracks are intended as a preview of the bands forthcoming album, due some time this summer.

The album takes the formula of Stewart’s previous releases and stretches it panoramic, bedroom pop on a mountainous scale, a departure from his norms in all the right ways. The band build dense layers of guitar which, paired with rumbling bass and crashing drums, create something imposing, a monolith rising through the fog. I found myself thinking of earlier Wintersleep albums in the way they fuse melancholic indie with the noisy dramatism of post-rock. The tracks were recorded live at Monarch Studios in Vancouver, a decision that sounds to have paid off as the band’s thunderous energy is tangible.

If you want my advice, head over to the Summering Bandcamp page, download the preview on a name your price basis, and then sit patiently for the full album. - Wake The Deaf

“Paul Stewart returns backed by an expansive and even-tempered band. What better time than this oddly warm western winter to look with open eyes toward the summer? Paul is a lyricist at home in the modern world. Previous, more introverted, albums explored the world of antennae and telecommunications with a graceful delicacy. Here again, concrete and traversed distance paints Stewart’s voice with longing. Turn these songs up and let them guide your bus home.” - Argue Job

Like an incidental chamber between the screen door and the door door, Summering is a slice between real inside and real outside. With sounds catering to both a linger and an exit, it’s hard to trap their waif-like guitar licks and dense rhythms in a single instance of motion. The self-titled EP is a marked, anticipated entrance into an uncanny place: both familiar and new territory. - Weird Canada

It’s not often you get to experience a live show so bizarre in its entrapment as to be ridiculous to describe to others, but on this hot summer evening that’s exactly what occurred. The second event in a series of shows where the bands are recorded live and then pressed to a split LP featured folk-rock quintet Summering and the psych-grunge stylings of Outside Dog. As perhaps one of the most professional BYOB shows of the season, the underground venue known only as Eagle Time Recording—or, “that place with the eagle mural above the door”—was one of the kindest hosts I’ve come across in a long time, even if they did borrow a bouncer from a local strip club to run the door.

Packing 150 people into a space the size of the Astoria’s bathroom is no small feat, but even with the regrettable run-off from Friday night bar-hoppers there was nothing but smiles and cheering in the tiny makeshift environ. Openers Summering have quickly become one of my favourite bands in the city—and with only three shows under their belt so far, that’s saying something. Frontman Paul Stewart, perhaps better known for his solo work as a soft-spoken acoustic musician, was electrifying behind the helm of a three-guitar ensemble, carefully filling the palm-muted verses with bedtime crooning before the band would explode behind him in heavy, post-rock-verging jam lines. For a band so gracious in their presence, the spontaneous bursts of energy and overdrive were gratifying in the extreme. Although buried behind the stringed instruments, the set highlight had to lie in drummer Zachary Treble’s magnificent, if understated, performance. Careful viewers took note of him conducting the band during the precious quiet moments between verses, and it was this tight back-and-forth that let Summering flourish. - Discorder Magazine

Summering are an alternative rock band that combines elements of folk, psychedelic sounds and shoegaze within their music. The band originated in Vancouver, British Columbia. Members include Mathew Durie, Ryan Bekolay, Paul Stewart, Mohammad Sharar and Zachary Treble. Three preview tracks from their forthcoming debut album, set to be released during the summer of 2015, have surfaced online. Each song has a distinct component that showcases their talent, along with different sub-genre elements that create an overall unique signature sound and style.

“Summering” is one of the songs by the band that is almost six minutes in length. The melodic introduction creates a melancholic tone. The vocals begin, and the instruments slowly accompany it so rhythmically. The vocalist sings, and the instruments stop until they get the cue (i.e., the end of every bar), then they re-enter in succession. This slow-paced song creates an immense amount of goosebumps. The melody is haunting. The electric guitar enters so abruptly, yet slowly, falling through with the overall rhythm of the song. This song is almost instrumental, similar to the sound of post-rock bands such as Explosions in the Sky.

“LAFK” is another track that has instrumental power. Listeners anticipate for the vocalist to begin singing. Slowly, he does. The song has a calming rhythm, similar to “Summering”. The structure of the song is unique. The verse, the chorus, the intro, the outro – it all blends. Summering does not follow a systematic path. There is a deep sense of originality in their work and it’s at the forefront here.

“Concrete Plans” is a song that shows just how important instrumental work is to this band, and just how creative they can get without making the vocals the dominant feature in their tracks. They incorporate elements of post-rock and elements of alternative rock, and mesh it into their own. This makes it harder for them to be classified in one type of genre, making it all the more interesting.

Summering is one of the bands that is meant to be heard in the Vancouver music scene. If you like alternative rock, ‘90s Britpop and shoegaze, psychedelic rock, Summering is one band to check out. The three preview works provides a hinting taste of their overall music style. Take notice now. Summering is just around the corner. - Red on Black Music