Found, the new EP from Summer Homes, Daniel Radin’s solo project, is a spellbinding collection of tracks. Based on recorded mementos, each of the five tracks takes the listener along Radin’s customizable exploration of Memory Lane.
Summer Homes is still in an exploratory state, untethered to any one genre. If it seems like that could lead to a disconnected mishmash of sounds and styles, in Found, this is not the case. The end result reads like a poetic ode to the interpretation of memory.
Mostly a collection of ambient sounds and instrumentals, Found –except for the voices the sampled audio— has no lyrics. The effect is an overall richness; each track an intimate party with just the right amount of guests.
Inspiration first struck when Radin stumbled upon a recording of Merlin, the family cat. Instead of collecting dust –literally and figuratively—the memories featured on the EP now had a “home of some sort,” Radin explained in an email. This sense of home exists in each track –from the rhythmic purrs to the relative’s voice—to create a sincere, comforting experience.
“Dismantled String Quartet” embodies the enveloping structure of Found. It builds upon itself until the listener is struck by some emotion –or memory- just out of reach. Radin assembled this piece from a six-minute string quartet he wrote in college, building a new composition from the few sections that he actually liked. In its new form it moves like the air on heavy summer nights, close and warm and big.
For Radin, each piece should “feel like it’s coming from somewhere honest or true.” He wanted the tracks on Found to feel personal, but without “giving too much of a story.” Radin doesn’t tell listeners what they should understand from each piece – he only guides them.
“Song for a Cat,” featuring Merlin’s purrs – a sound so completely cozy, you feel right at home –is simple, yet still evokes snippets of pleasant memories. “For Dena, From Guess Who” has a longer narrative, mostly instrumental until the very ending. The short audio sample used in this one is well worth the wait, and paints the piece in a new light. Using the longest sample, “Rene” is the wordiest piece. After revisiting a recording, Radin discovered a love story peppering an oral history with his great aunt years earlier.
“When you listened to her you were always leaning in,” Radin said, adding that he “tried to recreate it with [“Rene”].”
Found holds listeners just close enough where they are comfortable, yet they are distanced enough to appreciate the mementos belonging to someone else. They are able to give meaning to each piece in their own way, making this EP a successful collaboration between creator and audience. Listen to Found below: