Endless summer: why sunny, out-of-season albums are in this winter

A pox upon those smug sweater-weather fans who are still strangely horny for pumpkin spiced lattes after all these years. As seasonal Stockholm syndrome takes hold, it seems as if the pop world is defying the beanie and boots-wearing faithful, too. After this summer was cancelled – as well as all the wonder that it brings, from festivals and carnivals to falling out of beer gardens in groups bigger than six – a gaggle of artists have decided to bring some much needed sunshine to the gloomiest winter we have had in decades.

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Matthew Halsall’s Salute to the Sun heads up a bunch of albums that sound as much like a scorching August afternoon as the pop-hiss of a freshly opened can of Rio. On his latest opus, the Mobo-nominated, Manchester-based trumpeter, composer and producer makes no bones about how much he longs for the days of BST. But instead of moping about the fact that it’s dark outside by the time the end credits of Sunday Brunch roll, he delves into the sumptuous, spiritual world of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, offering up a seven-track jazz salutation to sweating through your Dove roll-on via his own Gondwana Records.

Another ideal soundtrack to screwing in some 100w bulbs and whacking the heating on full is San Francisco’s Jim-E Stack and his steamy new project Ephemera. A totally tropical party record, it features the laidback likes of the Dijon-assisted Sweet Summer Sweat, the perfect accompaniment to a day spent working on nothing but your (fake) tan. Mooching behind the pop scenes for the past decade, including co-writes with Haim, Charli XCX and Caroline Polachek, producer Stack is now taking a step towards the limelight with his unseasonal, festival-ready electronica. Friends in high places Empress Of, Bon Iver and Kacy Hill – surely an upcoming Lovebox lineup in itself – all step by the studio in their best shorts-and-vest combos to contribute some barometer-busting vocals across the record’s sizzling eight tracks.

Meanwhile, the Bristolian singer-songwriter Katy J Pearson holds up the indie end of things with her uplifting debut album, Return. Hazy, dappled Americana is boosted by the bouncy singles Tonight and Take Back the Radio, which smell of sun cream, scrumpy and not having your budget flight to Crete cancelled two days before you were supposed to leave.

Although thrilling news of a Covid vaccine means we just might be able to get sweaty in a field surrounded by fellow humans next year, here, towards the tail end of lockdown two, the very thought of such revelry still seems like a long way off. Thank goodness, then, for this trio of sun-worshippers who have treated us to a well-earned sonic summer holiday through their escapist music. Denial has rarely sounded so sweet.