"Summer sun / How could it go wrong this time? / How could you not read the signs? / You’re older and older every time / You turn out the light..."
The rock indie kaleidoscopic sadness of "Summersun" by Brooklyn's Endearments, the second single from their upcoming debut album "An Always Open Door", injects you with nostalgic melancholic memories, a much needed transformation. As I feel the stair stepping progressions, the emotional drama, the holding up of mirrors, I (for one) feel passages of time colliding. Times when the Cure played on car radios and Pretty in Pink was on the go see list but also the early aughts when post punk revisionism started on the heels of Interpol. Though vastly different, "Summersun" also feels adjacent to The Futureheads or LCD Soundsystem or Franz Ferdinand and others. Ultimately Endearments have crafted a blend of somber core, indie rock, post punk that feels dreamily sad but hopeful at the same time.
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[Today, Brooklyn’s Endearments releases “Summersun”, the second single from their forthcoming debut album, "An Always Open Door" (March 6 via Trash Casual). A sauntering, self-effacing ballad on the passing of time — and the frustration of staying the same — the track contends with what it means to fit yourself into someone else’s life, and the frustration that comes from lying to your own reflection. “Every day’s another Halloween,” belts frontman Kevin Marksson on the song’s refrain, a tongue-in-cheek encapsulation of wearing a different costume to every party.]
[Once again working with director Paul Desilva, the accompanying music video, shot entirely on Super 8 film, follows two locals on an introspective journey to the Coney Island boardwalk. Marksson explains:
"'Summersun' is a song about losing track of yourself in the expectations of others, and how easy it is to fit into a mold someone else has made for you for the sake of love or companionship. The bridge of the song is meant to be a cathartic release — the guitars give way and then build up again to reinforce this feeling of wanting to be truly known, even while you still pretend to be someone that you're not. We wanted the video to really convey that melancholy and self-searching. I love the way it cuts two stories together to show how our personal journeys often overlap in ways both internal and external."]
These times are fucking horrible. America has lost it's way. I fully admit, that the oppressive nature of these times fosters depression and quells productivity / positivity. We are all holding on. I have been having a hard time even enjoying art or writing at all. Certain songs can pull me out of the paralytic funk and "Summersun" is one of them.
-Robb Donker Curtius
Lyrics
Summer sun
How could it go wrong this time?
How could you not read the signs?
You’re older and older every time
You turn out the light
It’s just the lie of the week
Every day’s another Halloween for you
Honest sum
For parts that don’t divide to one
Half a peach and all the pit
It’s over, it’s over, you’re sick of it
Why can’t you quit?
It’s just the lie of the week
Every day’s another Halloween
There’s nothing worse than saying what you mean
For you
For you, for you, for you, for you
Summer sun
You want to know someone
You want to hold someone like your own
It’s just the lie of the week
Every day’s another Halloween
You’re sick of never saying what you mean
Aren’t you?
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
https://soundcloud.com/endearments
https://www.youtube.com/@endearments
https://endearments.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/endearmnts
https://www.instagram.com/endearmnts
https://x.com/endearments
The music of Endearments has always turned a mirror on the inner self, reflecting life’s deeply personal, often painful moments in the light of clarity and new resolve. Principal songwriter Kevin Marksson and his bandmates, guitarist Anjali Nair and drummer Will Haywood Smith, craft emotionally dense and instrumentally lush pop songs, viewed through the lens of contemporary, dreamy indie rock and embedded with a John Hughes-ian romanticism.
Drawing on the emotive qualities of 80s synthpop and late-90s emo in equal measure, An Always Open Door, Endearments’ first full-length record, fine-tunes this heartfelt songcraft, widening the band’s influences and turning up the volume while maintaining the raw lyrical storytelling that’s made them a mainstay in Brooklyn’s highly competitive scene. Marksson’s blitzing, blistering inner monologue on “Marianne” and the melancholic explosiveness of “Real Deal” conjure comparisons to the likes of Camera Obscura and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart; at the same time, Nair’s stirring, wall-of-sound guitars on “Summersun” and Haywood Smith’s maximalist drums on “Saline” evoke the textures of shoegaze and the driving rhythm of big beat.
This shift towards energetic indie rock accompanies a change in the band’s approach to songwriting, one that trades raw immediacy for meditative contemplation. “When I wrote the first two Endearments EPs, Father of Wands and It Can Be Like This, I was only recently outside of the events that inspired those songs: a failed marriage; a hopeful new relationship,” Marksson recalls. “When I sat down to write lyrics for our first full-length record, I had no intention of interrogating those memories and feelings again. Nevertheless, as the songs took shape, I felt myself looking back at the last six years with a renewed sense of curiosity.”
The end result is a record that reevaluates the past, foregrounding emotional truths through performances that are as kinetic as they are introspective. Produced by Abe Seiferth (Nation of Language, Guerilla Toss) and featuring additional vocals from Liv Price (Forever Honey) and guitars from Chris Croarkin (Diary), the album blends dreamy and down-to-earth influences into a vibrant, varied, and dynamic image of the band’s inner world.
An Always Open Door will be available on March 6, 2026, via Trash Casual.
How could it go wrong this time?
How could you not read the signs?
You’re older and older every time
You turn out the light
It’s just the lie of the week
Every day’s another Halloween for you
Honest sum
For parts that don’t divide to one
Half a peach and all the pit
It’s over, it’s over, you’re sick of it
Why can’t you quit?
It’s just the lie of the week
Every day’s another Halloween
There’s nothing worse than saying what you mean
For you
For you, for you, for you, for you
Summer sun
You want to know someone
You want to hold someone like your own
It’s just the lie of the week
Every day’s another Halloween
You’re sick of never saying what you mean
Aren’t you?
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://soundcloud.com/endearments
https://www.youtube.com/@endearments
https://endearments.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/endearmnts
https://www.instagram.com/endearmnts
https://x.com/endearments
The music of Endearments has always turned a mirror on the inner self, reflecting life’s deeply personal, often painful moments in the light of clarity and new resolve. Principal songwriter Kevin Marksson and his bandmates, guitarist Anjali Nair and drummer Will Haywood Smith, craft emotionally dense and instrumentally lush pop songs, viewed through the lens of contemporary, dreamy indie rock and embedded with a John Hughes-ian romanticism.
Drawing on the emotive qualities of 80s synthpop and late-90s emo in equal measure, An Always Open Door, Endearments’ first full-length record, fine-tunes this heartfelt songcraft, widening the band’s influences and turning up the volume while maintaining the raw lyrical storytelling that’s made them a mainstay in Brooklyn’s highly competitive scene. Marksson’s blitzing, blistering inner monologue on “Marianne” and the melancholic explosiveness of “Real Deal” conjure comparisons to the likes of Camera Obscura and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart; at the same time, Nair’s stirring, wall-of-sound guitars on “Summersun” and Haywood Smith’s maximalist drums on “Saline” evoke the textures of shoegaze and the driving rhythm of big beat.
This shift towards energetic indie rock accompanies a change in the band’s approach to songwriting, one that trades raw immediacy for meditative contemplation. “When I wrote the first two Endearments EPs, Father of Wands and It Can Be Like This, I was only recently outside of the events that inspired those songs: a failed marriage; a hopeful new relationship,” Marksson recalls. “When I sat down to write lyrics for our first full-length record, I had no intention of interrogating those memories and feelings again. Nevertheless, as the songs took shape, I felt myself looking back at the last six years with a renewed sense of curiosity.”
The end result is a record that reevaluates the past, foregrounding emotional truths through performances that are as kinetic as they are introspective. Produced by Abe Seiferth (Nation of Language, Guerilla Toss) and featuring additional vocals from Liv Price (Forever Honey) and guitars from Chris Croarkin (Diary), the album blends dreamy and down-to-earth influences into a vibrant, varied, and dynamic image of the band’s inner world.
An Always Open Door will be available on March 6, 2026, via Trash Casual.
Endearments, Brooklyn, indie rock, post punk, 80's new wave, 90's post punk, shimmering guitars, melancholia and hope holding hands, "Summersun" (Official Video), upcoming debut album "An Always Open Door",
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