Ban Summers is the soulful lo-fi project of Portsmouth musician Edward Perry who was previously in The Boy I Used to Be. Since being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, he has concentrated on recording the debut Ban Summers album using his guitar, microphone, laptop, and amp.
Ed writes about being ill in modern Britain and paints a grey landscape of society on Ban Summers album. It was released on 29 September and he’s already received support from BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio.
What Ed has in spades is the ability to create a very captivating atmosphere. The Ban Summers album has elements of shoegaze with a lot of reverb on the guitars. This has a strong impact on production because everything ties in very well together. The bass on some tracks, like ‘ I Wanna’ and ‘Lost’ have a strong Pixies influence while the guitars merge very well with Ed’s voice.
Lyrically, the album is very introspective and tackles mental health. It’s important that these things should be covered because more people are experiencing mental illnesses.
‘It’s on you’ is about the struggle of feeling productive, and feeling stuck in one place, and is inspiring because it makes the listener want to take action. ’05:04′ has a similar feel. The drum loops stand out because they bring a calm down tempo beat, which brings the songs to life.
Ban Summers is an accomplished debut because it conveys a strong atmosphere with relatable, inspirational lyrics.
Words by Ermis Madikopoulos