The last few years have found SUMMER SALT straddling the line between past and present tense. In 2024, the Austin, TX-formed breeze-pop group celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their debut EP, Driving To Hawaii, with a special remaster and nationwide tour – alongside a brand-new release, Electrolytes, that further solidified them as one of the most consistently blissful, eclectic forces in the indie world.
Now, on their fourth LP, RESIDE, the group (founded by childhood friends vocalist/guitarist Matthew Terry and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Eugene Chung in 2012 and rounded out by Winston Triolo and Anthony Barnett) continue the push and pull between where they’ve been and where they’re going, honoring the sun-soaked charm that won them their devoted fanbase while exploring new creative terrain.
“We always want to make sure we're bridging the gap between celebrating what we’ve done and veering into the places that interest us now,” Chung says. “It feels like there’s always more to explore with our music.”
While the 13-track Reside carries the same effortlessly beautiful melodies, delicate introspection and hazy instrumentation that have colored the band’s catalog – like 2021’s Sequoia Moon and 2023’s Campanita – the process of constructing the songs was quite literally flipped on its head this time around, with Chung handling the bulk of the songwriting duties, later leaning on his bandmates to bring his initial ideas to life.
“It was exciting to interpret Eugene’s personal experiences and try to put ourselves inside his head and see where he was coming from,” Terry explains. “Writing with Winston and Anthony has been awesome, and we all really wanted to make sure we were honoring Eugene’s songs and doing everything we could to add our own elements to them.”
Self-produced by the band alongside longtime collaborator Chris Beeble (Gregory Alan Isakov, Rise Against), Reside carries Summer Salt’s hallmark aesthetic, a swirl of surf pop, bossa nova and retro indie that evokes long coastal drives and the slow exposure of Polaroid photos on scorching summer afternoons while offering new emotional textures and lyrical depth: The album-opening “Better” is a quietly defiant anthem of self-belief in the face of abandonment, turning pain into a declaration of independence – a sentiment balanced by the whole-hearted, string-backed adulation of “Tell Me.”
Elsewhere, the circular “Julian” (one of two songs, along with “Spells,” that features all four members singing together) slow-dances its way skyward with a hypnotic refrain; “Mr. Lonely Wings” finds lo-fi synths battling with fuzz guitar squalls; the delicate, Korean-sung “Smile” is drenched in harmony stacks; and “Strawberry Sunrise,” conceptualized during Terry’s bachelor party, features a guest appearance from Ruru.
“It feels like this album encompasses a lot of themes that are pretty raw,” Terry says. “In some ways, it reminds me of albums prior to Campanita, but in a way that feels new and fresh.” Adds Chung: “The songs might be personal to me, but I hope people will be able to relate to them with their own situations and lives.”
Ultimately, Reside is an album that lives between stations – comfort and curiosity, ease and experimentation – and reflects a band not just willing to reimagine their identity without losing their essence, but feeling profoundly moved to do so. In many ways, the process of creating the record mirrors the themes Chung found himself unearthing. Take the album-closing title track, an emotionally heavy rumination on distance: the physical kind, yes – Chung now calls San Francisco home, while Terry has remained in the band’s home state – but also the kind measured in years, when who we are takes stock of who we were and attempts to connect lines between the two. Under a psychedelic guitar line and plodding drums, “Reside” reads like a love letter to a past self, a reminder of how profoundly things can, and do, change, but also the unshakable elements of life that remain unaltered in the midst of uncertainty.
Even after its final notes fade, Reside lingers, the sort of feelings that stick with you after the sun has set, the summer has slipped away, and the golden haze of memory begins to clear. In those quiet, reflective moments, Summer Salt’s music hums: familiar and full of feeling. It’s a gentle reminder of the past and a nudge toward the future, but also the stillness of the now. You’ll get where you’re going eventually. Until then, be where you are.
