Sye Elaine Spence - ‘Long Live The Summertime'

If you’ve ever been to a creative writing class (or a creative class of any kind), the first thing they tell you is that clichés are bad. Then again, they also tell you to ‘write what you know’, and I’m fairly sure George R. R. Martin has no experience in the raising of dragons. It won’t do to blindly follow the rules all the time - what’s important is to understand why the rules are there in the first place.

The reason for our blanket ban on clichés is that they usually fail to do justice to our experiences. Not all clichés fall into this trap. The below track by Atlanta-based songbird Sye Elaine Spence will not be the first ode to the summertime you’ve ever heard (it might not even be the first you’ve heard today), but it just might be the best. A stripped-back, perfectly delivered folk song, ‘Long Live The Summertime’ paints a picture of everything you love about the sunnier months and lets it melt on your tongue. It doesn’t try to be anything it’s not, and like the summer, it’s a sweetness that ends too soon.

Maybe this is just an elaborate defence of a clichéd song that brings back good memories - or maybe that’s the point.