Live Review: Molly Payton releases ‘January Summers’ days before the release of her new-mini album

29 September 2021 | 11:42 am | Parry Tritsiniotis
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Molly Payton is back, continuing to tease her new mini-album, ‘Slack’ days before its release, unveiling new single, ‘January Summers’.

Molly Payton is back, continuing to tease her new mini-album, ‘Slack’ days before its release, unveiling new single, ‘January Summers’. ‘January Summers’ joins Slack's tracklist alongside previously released singles ‘Honey’, ‘You Cut Me So Much Slack’ and ‘When Skies Were Always Blue’. What’s been hinted at is a record that is focussed on honest, deep and hopeful reflection, one focussing on the need to look backwards in order to move forwards. The record was written alongside frequent collaborator Oli Barton-Wood and Grammy-award winning producer Jimmy Hogarth after the London based artist returned from a long stint in her homeland of Aotearoa / New Zealand.

‘January Summers’ is another piece of cruisy alternative rock from Payton. The track centres on the themes of vulnerability and self-reflection, wrapped up in a gorgeous 90s grunge aesthetic.  Molly uses candid lyrics to emotionally charge her vocals, creating the tracks' distinct intimacy. The track builds to its peak during its chorus. Gorgeous vocal arrangements combine perfectly with hard hit drums, repetitive guitar strokes and spacey percussion. 

Of the new single, Molly comments: “I wrote January Summers near the end of last year when I was missing New Zealand and all of the people I’d been close with before I moved to the UK. I was initially just wanting to write this joyous ode to being 15/16 and doing everything for the first time. Going to your first party, the first time you hear your favourite song, the first time you tell someone you like them and so on. Even musically I pulled influence from bands that my big brother used to play when he was driving me places at that age, like the really messy surf-rock guitars and simple happy melodies. But it ended up also being about how complicated everything becomes the older you get - How I miss the joy and anticipation that came with the lack of direction I had when I was younger". 

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Image via Lewis Vorn

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