The Summer Solstice has passed and the days are getting longer and warmer. Whatever your feelings on summer may be, the buzz right now, as per usual, is summer jams. Well, we’re delighted to be exclusively premiering what will be one of the unequivocal summer jams of 2023, just days into the season. Boston-area glam punk band Linnea’s Garden have teamed up with multi-talented singer Carissa Johnson for a new track “In the City,” out today!
The song was born out of a long friendship between the pairing of Linnea and Carissa, who grew up together on the Boston music scene. But the track is about a different city altogether – New York – and highlights the limitless oddities you see everywhere in the City That Never Sleeps. While Linnea and fellow Gardener Hands were in town for an LCD Soundsystem show, they documented all the things they saw while out and about. “Corgis on the doorstep,” “soulmates making mistakes” and “mirrors on the king-sized bed” all make appearances on the lively night. As it goes on, everything gets more translucent. “Hooded flowers over dark mesh” and “sunlight after midnight” highlight a woozy summer night in a land of opportunity. The repeated chorus of “Come up and see what you want” is an invitation and an encouragement to get out and experience the world. In a new city, you can be anyone you wanna be.
Musically, this song sounds removed from previous Linnea’s Garden releases. The LCD Soundsystem show may have been a further influence on that, as this song is decidedly disco. A wicked and funky disco beat drops pretty early on in the track, and never lets up. The beat was dropped by Hands, and the funky bassline comes courtesy of Johnson. There is a steely guitar line in the background that sounds a bit more like the glam-rock that the Garden is known for, but it’s still a funky rhythm being played. The song came together in just one afternoon, an indicator of how locked-in everyone involved was. Everything about this track screams positivity, even when you look beyond the innately danceable music.
We need our doses of positivity more than ever. The song’s release on both the last day of Pride month and the second week of summer feel like the inspiration we need to keep our spirits high in spite of the world around us. It’s both a song to shut off the world to, and a push to go out and explore what the world has to offer. Basically, it’s fun as hell.
“In the City” is released on A Diamond Heart Production. Linnea’s Garden are working on an EP that should be released in the fall. You can catch Linnea’s Garden all around New England this summer, and two dates in Minneapolis (check the band’s website for dates & venues). You can stream the song on Spotify, or watch the video below!