Dana and Alden
“Summer Nights”
Sauna Boys / Concord Jazz (available via Bandcamp)
“Have fun, man!”
That could be the whole credo for Dana and Alden, whose excellent single “Summer Nights” is about as laid back as you can get.
It’s also the perfect soundtrack for saying farewell to the summer, too, as the light changes and the leaves hit the ground.
The song is from the latest album Papa’s Boat, out now via Concord Jazz. Having “jazz” pinned anywhere on this outfit is an interesting genre hill to die on considering these two brothers from Eugene, Oregon, grew up on influences that range from the Grateful Dead to traditional Irish folk songs to Bob Dylan and the Talking Heads and… well… everything.
But with Dana on saxophone and Alden keeping it tight on the drums, jazz is clearly the root of the music they want to make, layering their genre-agnostic influences on top.
While you’ll hear bits and pieces of droning indie rock and straight-up pop orchestration throughout the whole record, “Summer Nights” lands somewhere between a Q-Tip-produced hip-hop beat and something you’d hear on a jazz-fusion era Blue Note record from legendary Detroit trumpeter Donald Byrd.
It’s a party anthem that’s low-key only in the way that it's produced because Alden’s drumming here is absolutely on fire. It’s somehow music that could make you stay up all night. It’s got sex appeal. And the way it was put down in the studio, it’s got a softness to it that, on the right day with the right deejay on the board, could sneak its way onto a contemporary smooth jazz radio station.
You’ll sample a lot of flavors on their latest album, but it’s a cohesive effort at the end of the day. “Summer Nights” is an absolute standout. Plus, Dana and Alden are currently on a massive tour likely heading to your neck of the woods. If you’re in the Detroit area, they’ll bring their live show at El Club on October 13. Considering the myriad influences here, it’s probably the best way to take it all in. One live shot, one stage, one night. Tell ’em Midbrow sent you.
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