New Uchu Nekoko Featuring Irie You: “Summer Sunny Blue”

Uchu Nekoko have a busy August in store, as they’ll release a new EP and and a new album a few weeks later. “Summer Sunny Blue” appears on both, and features singer Irie You delivering laid-back vocals over a very easy-going arrangement, full of keyboards and horns. It’s very much in line with one of this year’s bigger trends, the “city pop revival” aka “a bunch of young bands listened to Random Access Memories,” yet Uchu Nekoko hit on something a lot of the artists associated with that resurgent style don’t. Whereas Suchmos and even the at-times-wonky Cero make music that mostly sounds apt for driving around on a summer day, “Summer Sunny Blue” pushes melancholy to the front. You’s delivery of the chorus isn’t particularly upbeat, but sounds like he’s reaching for something already lost. Listen above.