summersets - “christian scientist”

Kalle Mattson and Andrew Sowka, aka summersets, arrive on the blog with “christian scientist,” a delightfully performed folk song with heaps of vintage vibe.

This is one of those occasions where you should skip all of our word and head straight for the play button– we will not do this song the justice it deserves. Before we get to it, we must first express how it is not uncommon for artists to try and capture the essence of Simon & Garfunkel. And where many have failed before them, this essence is the sole reason that summersets captured our immediate interest.

“christian scientist” is extremely sparse in its arrangement, at first only containing some acoustic guitar and the vocals of both Mattson and Sowka. And though we generally try to avoid writing about songs that contain so few elements, the way that these vocals harmonize, from start to finish, is enough to mesmerize even the most stubborn of audiophiles. Seriously, this is folk magic.

After the first refrain, our ears are greeted with some softly keyed piano notes and what appears to be a synth pad off in the distance– nothing fights for the spotlight and the gentle and melancholic mood of “christian scientist” remains intact. It should go without saying, but you will not find any autotune here. In fact, other than a dash of reverb, the song remains relatively dry, letting it sound as though you are sitting with the duo as they perform it.

But it’s these vocal harmonies that win the trophy here. They flawlessly line up with each other and we got a bit of anxiety imagining how many takes we’d have to do before we ended up with the same result. As stated, “christian scientist” is quite the magical experience and we await with baited breath for the release of summerset’s album, small town story, due for release on June 9th.

-TM