After showcasing wistful melancholy in the previous single ‘I Held You So Close’, Cameron and the Slumberknights with the equally bittersweet and more moody sister single ‘Summer Rains’. Bringing swung, Dilla-esque drums, floaty electric guitar licks, and the soft hum of a processed piano, the track is a gorgeous blend of lo-fi and 90s hip-hop. Speaking to frontman Cameron’s childhood, the track gets you swaying and reminiscing almost immediately.
Explaining the track, Cam adds, “Summer Rains started taking shape before the pandemic, if you’d believe it! I finally finished writing it a year later, and then produced it with the band. I wanted to write a song that would reflect the way I felt as a nostalgic 20-something, as if time was slipping away post-graduation, owing to the pandemic (and Brexit, probably). I’m indescribably proud to say I think we pulled it off. I hope the song is able to remind you of playing out as much as it does for me; Summer Rains isn’t meant to be melancholy, but bittersweet instead.
These are my best verses ever, I think! Even looking back, having written them a short while ago, I think they capture the pangs of nostalgia I was feeling at the time. We didn’t know how good we had it!
I have very vivid memories of riding around the neighbourhood on my bike – sometimes me and my friends would be on our adventures, but other times I’d be listening to something like Relapse, Recovery or Thank Me Later, enjoying the English summer. Those summers, when I’d rush out the door as soon as the showers stopped, whilst the rainbows were still reaching, and hit the wet tarmac with screeching tires, will always be an escape for me. The smell of rain on the pavement – petrichor – always makes me feel that little bit better about growing up.”
Cameron and the Slumberknights is made up of South African frontman and songwriter Cameron Donald, also featuring Jim ‘Creature’ Cornelissen on drums, Lana Lubany collaborator Ben Thomson on guitar and Dan Collins on bass. The band have been praised for their musicality and integrity, going into a new era of their sound.
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