If you haven’t chosen an album to be your summer soundtrack yet, my nomination is Jamie Drake’s 2019 debut, Everything Is Fine.
Everything about it is sparkly and summer-like, right down to the cover art, which looks a bit like an ad for a summer camp for grown-ups. But it’s the music that really shines, with the grand, sweeping feeling of Rufus Wainwright or Björk. The kind of songs that might make you feel as if the world is about to break into a musical number all around you.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. Her voice has a slightly haunting quality to it, much like Vashti Bunyan’s. Is it possible to have a sense of wonder come through in the way a person sings? If so, Jamie Drake does it.
2. The melody is sneakily catchy; the kind of tune you find yourself whistling hours later and wondering how it got in your head. (Drake even whistles it herself in another track on the album, “Redwood Tree”.)
3. The background vocals in the second verse, which sound like they’re pulled straight out of a 1950s MGM musical.
Recommended listening activity:
Applying sunscreen to your arm in the shape of a heart.