Elephant Ears & Roi Aknin – “Summer Day” Feat. Rowan Hart

Elephant Ears & Roi Aknin – “Summer Day” Feat. Rowan Hart – Single Review

What to say…where to begin?  I’ll say this to start – “Summer Day” is a highly cohesive tune.  With music produced by Elephant Ears, lyrics co-written by the man behind the music Alfredo Paz and Roi Aknin, and featuring the vocals of Rowan Hart, you’ll find everything fits together about as tightly and professionally as you’d want to hear.  You know me, I like to start with the positives whenever I can, and all things considered – yes ALL – it’d be hard to argue that what this collection of talents has created isn’t pleasant to listen to.  Part Folk, part Country, part Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary, they obviously set out to create a beautiful love song, and it’d be extremely tough to argue that that’s not exactly what you’ll find “Summer Day” turned out to be.  To an extent, you could make a case for “Summer Day” having more depth to it than being a simple love song…there’s a more interpretative quality to its lyricism that likely runs deeper than what you’d expect in that regard, even if it appears to be a fairly simple kind of imagery that they’re working with.  It’s sweet, let’s put it that way…maybe that’s a better way to describe it than calling it a love song overall.

In any event there’s stunning detail in the music, clever layers of backing vocals that brighten & enhance the atmosphere, and the recording itself is absolutely fantastic to listen to.  The spectacular clarity really adds the kind of dimension you want to hear in the percussion, and you’ll be surprised by just how much is involved in the instrumentation.  From string sounds, to piano, to accordion, keyboards and more alongside the guitar and vocals, not only is each individual component really impressive in its own turn in the spotlight, but the seamless way such variety is able to flow together is truly quite something as well.

So…if you just read all that and it sounds like the kind of style of music you enjoy, then why wouldn’t you want to push play, right?  Believe me when I tell you, I’m not here to talk you out of listening to “Summer Day.”  I’ll fully admit that I do not entirely know exactly how the sausage is made here – this is my first experience in listening to Elephant Ears, there’s a whole lot going on in this song that would typically be outrageously expensive to make if it was all done analog with real instruments.  From what I’ve come to learn about Elephant Ears, it’s a combination of both digital and analog instrumentation – he plays a ton of the parts on traditional instruments, in addition to the technological stuff from synths to keyboards.

Good tunes are exactly that and nothing more – if you enjoy it, to me, that’s all that should ever really matter.  That’s not me telling you that “Summer Day” is the kind of tune that is in the realm of my own personal taste – I think anyone reading these pages of ours would know that it’s not really – but at the same time, I’m more than happy to listen to anything that’s as well put together as this song truly is.  It might not mean that I’m over here spinning it on repeat, but if this was your kind of music, then hey, I don’t see any reason not to play it loud and proud with the quality it possesses.  Hart’s vocals are strong, and are a major part of the overall appeal in the final results you hear on this new single, and of course the effort put in to make this whole song as polished as it is, is a reflection of the care that Elephant Ears brings to the music he creates.  It’s got a thoughtful melody, it has a bold finale…and it does display emotions that we can certainly all relate to though the lyrical imagery as well.  Like I said from the very beginning, it’d be extremely tough to argue against a song like this having what people are looking for in what they listen to, and I’m not going to be the guy to try.  Elephant Ears, Roi Aknin, and Rowan Hart, all contribute to a moment in music that is pleasant and easy to enjoy.  At the end of the day, there’s a massive audience out there that is always looking for something like that.

Find out more about Elephant Ears from the official website at:  https://www.elephantears.co.uk

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