Summer Nights

Kean Kavanagh plays with duality in his latest release ‘Summer Nights’.

The track begins with an upbeat melody that becomes the backbone of the single while the auxiliary instruments dance around it - building into a peak moment about halfway through the song, one instrument adding to the other before a sudden eruption of sound accompanies the melody Kavanagh began with, mimicking the heightened emotions that can come with summer evenings. It’s a delicate and surprising decision to place the height of the song in the center of its duration while the rest of the tune subsides and strips back to its purest form - reminding us of a come down.

It’s when the come down happens that we see the subject matter in plain light. The question that Kavanagh repeats - ‘Are we too drunk to be driving?’ - reveals the reason for the come down towards the end of the track. The optimistic nature of the music masks the humanity of the experience while allowing space to explore and discover the answer to the question that repeats itself. Kavanagh expertly utilizes the practice of creating to play with real life and discover what alternatives lie just beyond the bounds of the reality we exist in.