aaamusic | On 05, Nov 2012

I think you’ll agree that early November is a very odd time to receive one of the sunniest and most summery records I’ve ever heard, but if you stay indoors, shut your eyes and wear loads of clothes you could still convince yourself it’s the appropriate whether for the debut album from New York based singer songwriter Ash Gray and his backing band, The Girls. Although truth be told, it doesn’t really need it, whatever the weather, it’s still a thumping good album of relaxed, 60’s indebted folk rock, containing echoes of Big Star and Rubber Soul era Beatles in its mix of gentle folk and more energetic, electric guitar led jams. Of course, the previous two comparisons put this album in very prestigious company, and truth be told it doesn’t come close to either of them, nowhere as heart-rendingly melodic as the former or as forward thinking as the latter. However anyone suffers in comparison to them, on its own merits, Born in the Summer probably won’t change anyone’s life but it will make it seem a lot less difficult for 35 minutes or so, and it does it so well it seems churlish to demand any more.
Opening with a burst of far out sitar before settling into the perfectly harmless chime of Purple And Gold the album rarely gets more edgy than that, and as much as I like my musicians to push themselves, the best moments of the album are those inoffensive, mid tempo strummers that ooze melody and calm. The moments that carry, or at least try very hard to carry, a semblance of edge are uniformly mediocre, especially the slightly embarrassing attempt at Free-esque blues rock The Hottest Chick Around. Fortunately, when this album is good, it’s very good indeed, especially the countrified Smiths jangle of Call It A Day Renee, or the utterly charming The Only Woman on Earth. The album does go to some deeply twee depths, like the overly-chirpy Goodbye, and that in itself is guaranteed to piss someone off but it’s done with such a sense of innocence that I can’t find it in myself to say anything negative. I think that is the bottom line about this album when I think about it, wherever it goes and however may times it sounds a bit naff, it’s never unpalatable, Gray and his backing band know exactly what they’re doing, and do it very well, it’s difficult to begrudge it when so many bands get away with less than that.
So as I said, nothing life changing or world breaking, but if we expect that out of every record we listen to then we’d be constantly disappointed, and that’s a word that doesn’t seem to be in Ash Gray’s vocabulary, let alone this charming debut. Maybe the bitter winter we’re undoubtedly headed for will make this album slightly incongruous but taken out of context, this is still well worth a listen, provided you’re open to at least a little bit of whimsy. And hey, deep down, who isn’t?

★★★★★

Will Howard