Avid Dancer
1st Bath
GRAND JURY
8/10
Jacob Dillan Summers, a.k.a. Avid Dancer, has had the sort of life trajectory that you wouldn’t expect to end with him being a rising star in the indie world, but his talent and his unique take on the en vogue surf-rock genre is really what makes him stand out from the rest of the crowd. After releasing a rough-around-the-edges EP, Summers’s first full-length as Avid Dancer, 1st Bath, takes those unpolished gems and transforms them through unobtrusive yet effective production—allowing each of the twelve tracks to shine. Hints of subdued ’60s psychedelia bleed into most songs, from the jangly single “Not Far To Go” and “All The Things You Keep” to the positively tropical “I Told You So.” These retro elements enhance the album’s shimmery romanticism found especially on sultry tracks “Stop Playing With My Heart” and “Nobody Else.” While there might be other trademarked “songs of the summer,” none will effectively capture the feeling of the carefree season as well as this.
