Summer Camp – Better off without you

Lyrically sharp and relateable, Summer Camp’s latest offering,  ‘Better off without you’ opens with a clear and concise statement, ‘Stop calling me late at night’.

The problem is, if this band are going to produce songs of this calibre, they’re going to be getting a lot more phone calls in the future. A catchy, dark tale of realising being single and happy is better than being in a relationship but unhappy, it treads that fine line between being a dime a dozen anti-love song and being an enjoyable, catchy piece of eighties throwback.

With grinding, compact guitar chords, strangely reminding this reviewer of the opening riff from Footloose (!), the track continues it’s unapologetic tribute to early eighties female led outfits with lead singer, Elizabeth Sankley, doing her best Debbie Harry impression.

Thankfully,  the vocals never cross that point of sounding like a tribute to Harry, nor do they ever sound forced, kitsch or embarrassing. Indeed, her vocal style has some spit and anger behind it during the annunciation of lyrics, you expect it’s a song aimed at someone specific, rather than an ‘I had an idea for a song’, song.

What’s more, her vocal style balances out well with the keyboard’s melodies (a killer hook hidden in the keyboard’s glass-like twinkle effect, for want of a better descriptive!) and simple, elegant percussion drives the song ever forward. From a seriously critical point of view, the use of overlay on the vocals is something that always grates with me, yes it empowers the vocal in the studio, but live it can be more of a hindrance, with vocals potentially sounding weak against the instrumental aspects.

Overall, it’s a track you’ll find hard to dislike, as it has that wonderful ability to feel long enough to really get in to when on the dance floor, yet is short enough to warrant repeat listening immediately after your ear’s have heard it the first time. Put it this way, Debbie Harry fronting The Cure isn’t going to happen ever, so you might as well listen to Summer Camp, they’re doing a very similar thing.

Words: Fuzz Caminski

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