The Music and Planet Project

Summer, the album by Massachusetts-based Couchboy, is a full album in its truest sense and a nostalgia-laden ode to many of our favorite periods of rock and roll. Fans who grew up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s are likely to recognize the influence of a handful of the greats of these eras in this cornucopia of easy-to-like, guitar-driven songs.

The first thing to know about Couchboy’s Summer album is that it is a full album, not just a piecing-together of songs. More than just a sum of its parts, the album is built in a way so that each song complements the next and takes us back to the nostalgic sonic thesis of the LP. In this cosmos of sound, there is variety as we travel through various moods and emotions and learn of different characters intimately known to the artist, but there is also definition and cohesion. Beyond just the unity of the sound, the other way this feels like a full album is its length. With eleven full band tracks, the album feels colossal in the context of today’s single and EP-dominated music world. It’s the kind of music you want to absorb fully, not just in bits – and in a past era, you’d probably want the vinyl or cd case and lyric book along with it to show off on your collection or to be able to spend some time digging into the words and artwork.

Beyond its fullness and cohesion, the album is worthy of praise for its ability to take us through some of our favorite periods of rock. To speak of influences (or at least comparable sounds), Couchboy evokes quite an impressive list of big names. Dominated mostly by the 90s through vocals and guitar sounds reminiscent of melodic bands like Oasis, he also dabbles in the 70s at times. Reminding us some of the time of Tom Petty and Neil Young and other times of Marshall Tucker Band and the Alman Brothers in the acoustic tracks, there is a real mark of this dynamic decade in the album. Returning to the 90s, there are even moments when he goes more Weezer and Greenday style with big distorted guitars and power chords blended with anthemic riffs. And finally, in some of the songs that lean toward folksy and acoustic, he evokes alt Americana acts like Ryan Adams.

There is much more to say here, but to keep it brief, Couchboy’s Summer is a truly full album, and it is an album that brings back a variety of our favorite rock sounds of past decades. If you’re a fan of the LP format and enjoy rock of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, you’re likely to find a comforting musical home here.

Go ahead and dig in – stream the album here.