"We love this band" - Henry Rollins
“Melodic as fuck” - Indie Shuffle
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"It comes with high expectations, almost three years after Summer Flake’s much-lauded debut, You Can Have It All. And I am happy to say it will blow most of those expectations out of the water." The Saturday Paper “Australia is blessed with some truly stunning and idiosyncratic singer/songwriters - and Hello Friends is proof that Summer Flake is the cream of the crop” – Sonic Masala |
"it’s easy to tell Stephanie Crase is one of the sickest guitarists in the country." - Beat
"“Shoot And Score” reaches its abrupt ending, it leaves you wanting more. “Shoot and score, take what’s yours,” Crase sings, perhaps forecasting her group’s inevitable rise to prominence." Stereogum
"you'll hear meticulous, effortless sounding harmonies, shimmering but restrained lead guitar and a knack for melody that can't be taught.” - Double J
"Flake slows the pace down to emulate a lazy, twangy rhythm, places her distorted chords front-and-center, and layers her easy vocals to create a lush, summer-into-fall anthem." - SPIN
"The maudlin song titles belie the strength of songwriting on show." - 4 STARS The Music
Rice Is Nice + Summer Flake are proud to announce ‘Seasons Change’, the much-anticipated third album from Steph Crase aka Summer Flake. To be released August 30. Now available for PRE-ORDER, via Bandcamp. The first 100 copies receive a limited edition 7" feature unreleased B-side 'Run Away'
Summer Flake releases the third single from upcoming album 'Seasons Change'. 'Mind Reader' is everything we want from Summer Flake. The signature guitar, harmonies and powerful lyrics see Summer Flake deliver again with this captivating track.
"I know something isn’t right here / I can’t breathe"
Summer Flake, you kill us.
'Summer Flake dropped another spellbinding track, 'Hand In The Fire', the second single to be lifted from‘Seasons Change’, the much-anticipated third album from Steph Crase aka Summer Flake.
'Hand In The Fire' followed on from 'In The Dark', the first single to be lifted from the forthcoming record. The song's playful drum breaks and big bold guitar riffs belie panicked rumination on how to find a way out of the gloom - a motif repeated throughout the album.
Summer Flake released their critically acclaimed debut LP ‘You Can Have It All’ via Rice Is Nice in 2013, following up with the lush, “melodic as fuck” sophomore album ‘Hello Friends’ in 2016. Now, we welcome the third chapter in Summer Flake’s brooding guitar pop trilogy.
Recorded between studios and home, ‘Seasons Change’ sees the return of audio engineers Geoffrey O’Connor (The Crayon Fields, Sly Hats) and Evelyn Ida Morris (Pikelet), James Mannix returns on drums and Antony Bourmas on bass.
‘Seasons Change’ sees Steph Crase consider ideas of self-identity, movement, and the indiscriminate yet deeply personal sense of yearning for growth. Following an organic, non-curated writing process, it was only with hindsight that Crase was able to realise the inter-connectedness of the themes present within the record, saying “I thought all the songs were such separate, free-standing, very different ideas. I’m slow to write, and usually just play with one idea at a time. I didn’t realise until near the end of production how tightly connected and repetitive the themes and lyrics were.”
Crase describes the album as having “more pace than my previous records - little flashes of optimism, upbeat moments, but still simmering with anxiety and panic, and the wobbling uncertain desire for change.
Produced during a 2 year period of personal, political and societal turbulence, 'Seasons Change' marks a point of timely personal introspection, looking backwards moving forwards. The recording process was marred by creative and personal struggles. Crase says "we rehearsed and recorded in fits and starts and long long pauses. So many plans were shredded and intentions inverted. I struggled with confidence, navigating how to realise my own vision, and connect with all the amazing creative people around me".
The new album 'Seasons Change' is lovingly delivered with the realisation that in the creative process you have to sometimes throw process and planning out the window. 'Seasons Change' tells a human story, one we all exist in together.
You Can Have It All was followed up by EP Time Rolls By where ‘The Sun Won’t Shine’ which was premiered by long time Summer Flake fan Henry Rollins on his KCRW radio show 'Fanatic', who “loves this band.”
Summer Flake's new 2nd full length 'Hello Friends' was released on April 8.
Hello Friends marks a new era for Melbourne-via-Adelaide musician Stephanie Crase having enlisted the production finesse of Geoffrey O'Connor to propel her idiosyncratically sun-drunk guitar pop into new and lusher territories.
Hello Friends continues Crase's tendency for the thoughtful arrangements, '90s-tinged frankness and dizzying harmonies that have led her from strength to strength, this time adding a deeper layer of emotional reflection to an already enduring sound.
'Shoot And Score’ was the first single to be lifted off the excellent follow up album which has been premiered via Stereogum. 'Shoot and Score' enlists winding and mesmerising guitars underscoring straight-shooting lyrics not tied to any place nor time but that somehow are comfortingly familiar.
Drenched in a timelessness of reverb, Summer Flake's songs are transcendent - moving through the dreamy wings of pop, via The Crystals and The Paris Sisters, down the lonely byways of Karen Dalton and Laurel Canyon folkies, ambling up into the grubby 90s of Hole and Sonic Youth, before lingering out finally into the sunshine of other dream-pop contemporaries like Best Coast or Mac Demarco.
These songs, as delicate as a snowflake on a summer beach, succeed in unmooring one from the drudgeries of place and time. This new release secures Summer Flake as a band to watch.
We were very honoured to have Henry Rollins at KCRW premiere the entire album on his April 3 show.
'Tumbling Down' was the last single to be plucked from the record and alongside it is an excellent video clip made by Pat Telfer. The clip was premiere on UNDER THE RADAR and it features a Choral Grief, Summer Flake herself and a guitar hunk. It's a must see. View HERE.
Hello Friends (2016)
01. Son Of A Gun
02. Shoot And Score
03. I'd Ask You Not To Look Away
04. Make Your Way Back To Me
05. Tumbling Down
06. So Long
08. Satellite
09. Look How Far We've Come
10. Mess
Time Rolls By EP (2015)
1. Number One
2. Blur Me Out 3. Makes Me Wanna Cry 4. The Sun Wont Shine 5. Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind (cover)
