Blanky - "No Summertime" by Wayne Moots

BLANKY - “NO SUMMERTIME”

“Every time I listen to No Summertime, or anything by Blanky really, It feels like I’m listening for the first time. Unlike any other project, they continue to push the boundaries of the Midwest music scene with the depth of their creativity. The best way I felt to describe this album is to compare it to a painting. Abstract and strangely comfortable in its unfamiliarity. Salvador Dalí’s equally impressive work Enigmatic Elements in the Landscape perfectly captures the feel of this trio’s latest album.

The first thing we notice when looking at the painting, much like the first song and title track of the album, is the expanse of desert and skies of the same color that are delicately kept apart. The strange comfort it brings is gentle, yet devastating. Much like the tall, yet obstructed red tower, “Snuffed Us Out” is as energetic as the birds circling it before it gets cut off by the end of the painting. It’s one of the more upbeat tracks, yet just as downtrodden in its lyrics as the rest of the album.

“Freedom”, a song about avoiding the freedom of being single, has the same energy as the crumbling stone structure in the right foreground. Something once strong and dependable, something you could rest on and use for support crumbles before our eyes like the ruins of ancient civilizations. Something to be mourned over and long to see become fruitful again, now we can only dream of what it once was because it has no future. One of the striking and classic Dalì figures in this landscape is a dark unidentifiable mass. It’s humanoid shape yet inhuman color and draping is similar to “Cashin’ In” due to its blackness and obscurity, it’s silver and scratchiness. The gloomy vocals and lyrics are perfectly captured in this mess of curvature and curiosity. “All I Want is You” seems to be inspired by the village in the distance, nestled in front of the mountains. Something seemingly attainable, yet so far away, the longer we stare at it the more we question it. We may reach it someday, but if we do will it be all we hoped it would be? All we have for now is the dream.

In the middle ground, we see two children, one sitting down, one with an old-timey hoop toy. The kid with the toy seems to be stopped mid-play as if something caught his attention, while the other is on the ground, having looked at the same thing for enough time to need a rest from standing. Representing youth and the potential of a long future, but also “Late Bloomers” and “Rainbow to Kansas” the children stare at an obscure white shape in the distance. Their journeys and growth have paused and potentially have been interrupted by whatever this thing is.

To the left of the foreground, we see a wall with a section covered in something reflecting light. The small pieces of glass or mirror shine in the setting sun, sparkling in the same ways as “Go to Sleep”. Slow, dreamy, and cozy, this glistening sadness is comfortable and familiar but also somehow beautiful. This is where we see the sun say goodbye yet again, but even though it’s almost gone, we know it will come back. Finally, the center figure of this landscape, solitary and about to begin a new creation, symbolizes “In Dreams” best. This impossibly thin torero makes his first brushstroke with an idea already forming in his head. Surrealism was often inspired by dreams, with most of these artists keeping bedside notebooks to record them in. In this school of art, you abandon everything you know for what you want it to look like, much like the theme of this song.

The final track, “I Never Thought I’d be the One”, a little more upbeat, is attributed to the mysterious white knotted figure which the children presumably stare at. It is smooth and bright, but obscure and unfamiliar. No one expects to see something like that until it’s suddenly in front of you and you need to make sense of it. “No Summertime” in all its desolate loveliness is one of the hits of this year and a confirmed success by Lawrence band Blanky. The landscapes they build with their music are filled with emotion, yearning, and this energy that separates them from the rest of our incredibly talented local musicians.

LISTEN NOW.

*Salvador Dalí - Enigmatic Elements in the Landscape*

Review by ::

Wayne Moots

Co-Organizer & Staff Writer

Manor Records gives 100% of article author rights to Wayne Moots.