Sounds of the summer

Music lovers predict their sounds of the summer.

Ellie Goulding: Lights

Upbeat but chilled out, this will definitely be on my playlist this summer. I’m normally into more folky music than this but the lovely warm tone to her voice makes me feel soothed and ready to dance at the same time.

Caroline O’Donoghue

Abram Wilson: Life Paintings

Trumpeter Abram Wilson's album, Life Paintings, hits all the right spots - memorable self-penned tunes, immaculately played by talented young musicians and perfect summer listening. A jazz diamond from a player we'll hear much more from in the years to come.

Rob Hodgson

Goldfrapp: Head First

This stands a good chance of getting played everywhere if it’s a sunny summer. It’s got a big job to do as a follow up to Seventh Tree which was one of the all-killer-no-filler standout albums of 2008, in my opinion. I’ve only listened to Head First once on Spotify so far, but there are at least two tracks – ‘Rocket’ and ‘Dreaming’ - that made me want to, ahem, “bounce up and down”, and I reckon there are probably at least a couple more that have the potential to turn into summery earworms.

Tamsin Hemingray

Chris Wood: Handmade Life

Rich vocals, guitar, cello and trombone evoke a variety of warmths, from Spitfires soundtracking Kentish skies and Darwin’s stop at Tierra del Fuego to a different kind of heat, like that prevalent in Stockwell, summer 2005. So subtle, intense and deep I’ll be listening all year.

Mark Dishman

Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca

This is essentially a pop record filtered through the mind of an experimental rock guitarist, which means you get soaring, feel-good melodies combined with weird syncopated rhythms, unique musicianship and inventive arrangements.

It’s an album that’s hard to pin down, genre wise, and that’s probably why it’s so good. It shifts from a straight pop record, through folk to alt rock in the blink of an eye, tied together by the uniqueness of the band’s take on each style. You’ll be singing ‘Stillness is the Move’ in the shower for months to come.

Daniel Pomlett

Yeasayer: Odd Blood

Yeasayer’s second album is a more varied and poppier offering than the first and is spot-on for summer. ‘Ambling Alp’ kicks off the run of memorable up-beat tunes before ‘O.N.E’ and ‘Rome’ rove into 80s Euro synth-pop territory with joyful exuberance. The mystical ‘Strange Reunions’ will provide the perfect soundtrack to a hazy sun-kissed day and ‘Madder Red’ is guaranteed to be one of my most-played tracks of the summer for the simple reason that it’s one of the more interesting and multi-layered tracks I’ve heard in a long while.

Jo-ann Hodgson

Caribou: Swim

‘Odessa‘, the first single from Caribou’s upcoming album Swim, released 19 April, sounds a bit like Erlend Øye crooning over a shaggy monster of club bass and raw enthusiasm. If the album follows the track’s sound I can imagine it being his most widely played yet – I’ve already heard Odessa on the BBC’s F1 coverage.

Simon Handby

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