Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey are – on the surface, at least – an odd couple.
J-Wo is better known for his acoustic balladry, crafting neatly hewn nuggets of folk indebted wisdom. Sankey, meanwhile, has mixed voiceover work with a career as a journalist, her wicked pen wrapping itself around a variety of topics.
Summer Camp emerged at the tail end of 2009, with the duo displaying a clearly defined aesthetic. Using spoken word samples, each show by the pair seemed to become a mini-movie – specifically, a John Hughes inspired mini-movie.
Uniquely obsessed with adolescence, Summer Camp are powered by the glory of pop music. Reference points tend to be drawn from the other, real 80s (sans shoulder pads) but this is filtered through 21st century styles and – importantly – technology.
In interviews, the pair discuss the aesthetic of watching home movies which have been left to decay and distort. Debut album ‘Welcome To Condale’ has a similar atmosphere, with the production echoing the retro-Futurism of chillwave.
Beneath the cinematic references, though, lies a beating pop heart. ‘Welcome To Condale’ is fuelled by adolescent themes and draws on a classic pop lineage, with each song arriving as a perfectly formed, three minute entity.
A concept album of sorts, ‘Welcome To Condale’ follows four characters as they grow and interact. We’ll not spoil the ending, but did these movies ever end happily?
Stream lead single ‘I Want You’ below…
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