Slaughter Beach, Dog are back with “Summer Windows,” the latest single from their forthcoming album, Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling. Stream the song below.
“Summer Windows” follows two previous singles from Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling — “Float Away” and “Strange Weather” — and embodies the folk-inspired sound that Slaughter Beach, Dog have honed-in on. With references to Townes Van Zandt, the brokenhearted-ness of the 10 o’clock news, and the wistful, nostalgic longing that one feels when the sun pours through an open “summer window,” the tune constitutes a wonderfully resonant entry in the annals of Americana poetry.
For his part, frontman Jacob Ewald shared that the song came to him at an unexpected moment, which is something he treasures. “‘Summer Windows’ was the first song in the batch that became Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling,” he said in a statement. “I was working at the studio all night on something bad. Eventually I gave up and sat on the couch and this song fell in my lap. You can tell when something was written in 10 minutes — you’re in and out before you have time to intellectualize anything. No rehearsal.”
Expanding even further, Ewald explained that the song is not only meaningful lyrically, but has an element of sentimentality embedded in its production as well. “I love [bassist Ian Farmer]’s walking bass line on this one,” he said. “It somehow reminds me of him as a person, as a friend. This song is a favorite of mine, it feels the way I feel most of the time.”
Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling as a whole is set to drop on September 22nd, 2023, via Lame-O Records. Just a few days later, on September 27th, the band will embark on a massive tour which will stretch all the way through the end of January 2024. Check out the full list of dates, and grab your tickets here.