Because the season stretches into its golden haze, Montreal-based singer-songwriter Annabel Gutherz returns with a observe that looks like summer season bottled in sound. Her new single, “Summer time’s Right here,” is a gently shimmering providing, which feels heat and wistful, wrapped in breezy guitars, intimate vocals and lyrics that hint the contours of reminiscence and impermanence. Recorded in a single stay take, the music leans into rawness over perfection, capturing the fleeting emotional texture of a season we’re at all times chasing.
Following the success of her 2021 debut album Unfastened Ends, Annabel has been quietly however confidently carving out area as one in every of indie-pop’s most emotionally articulate voices. Her work balances lyrical vulnerability with painterly manufacturing, and in “Summer time’s Right here,” that duality is on full show. We caught up with Annabel to speak in regards to the making of the only, her evolving inventive course of and the way she’s studying to pay attention extra deeply—to chords, to silence and to herself.
First off, congratulations on being named to the Recording Academy’s 2025 New Member Class — such a ravishing milestone. What does it imply to you personally and professionally to now be a part of that constellation of artists?
Thanks a lot! I’m nonetheless pinching myself. Being welcomed into the Recording Academy’s 2025 New Member Class looks like an affirmation—each of the trail I’ve walked and the one I’ve but to tread. Personally, it’s a deeply significant milestone; I’ve appeared as much as so most of the artists and visionaries who make up the Academy, and to now be included amongst them is as humbling as it’s inspiring… I’m giddy with gratitude.
Professionally, it encourages me to proceed creating from a spot of authenticity whereas staying in service of group, craft, and the ever-evolving panorama of music. It’s an invite to contribute, not simply create, and I look so ahead to doing so!
Let’s speak about your new single—attractive, by the best way; I’ve had it on repeat. You’ve referred to as “Summer time’s Right here” a “sonic postcard”—a souvenir of heat, longing, and transience. Did that emotional duality come by way of early within the writing course of or did it reveal itself because the music developed? What do you hope listeners really feel once they first hear it?
Oh my goodness—thanks a lot for listening (on repeat… meaning the world to me), and for such a ravishing and considerate query. The emotional duality of “Summer time’s Right here” was current from the very starting. I’ve at all times felt that summer season carries this refined ache, like laughter that echoes right into a quiet room, or golden mild that fades earlier than you may bottle it.
I needed the music to stay in that area… to sound like a fleeting second already changing into a reminiscence. My hope is that when listeners hear it, they really feel held in that tender steadiness between pleasure and wistfulness, celebration and give up.
Was the observe born out of a particular reminiscence, second or feeling? We’d love to listen to the story behind it.
This observe was born out of a sense. I used to be reflecting on summer season and summer season love—and the way these moments can really feel each everlasting and ephemeral—after I was struck by this ineffable mix of gratitude and melancholy. The melody got here first, nearly prefer it had been ready to land. I adopted it like a thread, and it led me right here. I knew instinctively that this music was meant to be a sonic time capsule of that feeling.
Recording in a single stay take is a uncommon and weak alternative in right now’s pop panorama. Was {that a} deliberate alternative from the outset? What made you decide to that method and the way do you assume it formed the emotional texture of the ultimate model?
It actually wasn’t a deliberate alternative from the outset, however it grew to become a aware one after listening to it again. The band poured their instincts, emotions, and mastery into each word, and the end result speaks to their experience and artistry. I needed the recording to really feel like a breath—pure, human, and alive. There’s one thing magical about tracks that come up each time a music is interpreted for the primary time; they carry emotion in methods a cultured edit typically can’t.
That one-take method allowed me to give up to the second and protect its fragility, and I feel that tenderness lingers within the last recording. I ought to word that I re-recorded my lead vocals as a result of there was a bit of an excessive amount of bleed from the opposite devices within the room and added harmonies retroactively as properly.
There’s a quiet tenderness within the manufacturing—a form of respiration area, just like the second was guiding you. Along with your shift from lyric-first to chord-first writing, would you say your inventive course of is changing into extra instinctual or spacious? How has that opened up new dimensions for you artistically?
Completely! I feel I’m studying to pay attention extra—to the silence between the sounds, to my very own instincts and to the music itself. Writing from chords first [approach] has opened a brand new emotional vocabulary for me… one which isn’t tethered solely to language. It’s like portray with environment as a substitute of outlines. This shift has helped me method songwriting with extra fluidity and marvel. I’m leaning into the feeling and letting the emotion form the construction as a substitute of the opposite manner round.
“Summer time’s Right here” feels emotionally grounded but cinematic, like a scene from a coming-of-age movie. If it had been a movie second, what would we be watching? Daylight by way of a automobile window? A quiet seaside? A sense? Paint us a visible!
Oh, I really like this query! If “Summer time’s Right here” had been a movie scene, we’d see two hearts orbiting one another within the warmth of one thing unstated. They’re driving with the home windows down, hair tangled within the breeze, cheeks flushed with laughter. Music hums low from the stereo. There’s one thing within the air: risk, closeness, the ache of just about. A look lingers longer than it ought to. A contact stays only a second too lengthy. They’re glowing in that just-sunkissed manner, caught between figuring out it gained’t final and wishing it might.
Later, we see them on the fringe of the ocean—barefoot within the sand, a bit of out of breath, chasing waves and one another prefer it’s the one factor that issues. And once they kiss, beneath a sky of pink and gold, it looks like the entire season is holding its breath.
Wow—this sounds so attractive. If this single is a snapshot of summer season, what would a voice word from autumn or winter sound like?
Hmm… I feel you may need simply inadvertently given me some new music concepts. Autumn would sound like heat acoustic tones, layered guitars and mandolins, with measured, extra sparkly drone tones, wrapped in deep amber harmonies—introspective, earthy, and gently unraveling. Winter would possibly whisper by way of tender piano and ambient textures, with echoes and area that enable reflection and stillness to breathe.
Your lyrics typically really feel like intimate and trustworthy journal entries, however by no means self-indulgent. Do you jot down concepts in a journal or voice notes, and the way do you flip these fleeting feelings into one thing structured and musical?
Thanks a lot—meaning extra to me than I can specific! I do preserve a journal (a number of, in truth!), and I’m continually recording little voice memos when inspiration strikes—whether or not it’s a lyric, a melody, or only a passing feeling I wish to maintain onto. However typically, probably the most resonant concepts bloom from a sense that’s lingered quietly inside for some time. My course of is a mix of intuition and reflection. I attempt to write from a spot of emotional fact, at all times asking: “What’s probably the most trustworthy factor I can say proper now?”
You’ve labored with producers like Dominique Messier, Mikal Blue, Bonnie Hayes, and Bleu McAuley—all with distinct inventive types. How have these collaborations formed your instincts as a musician? Was there one which felt like an immediate inventive spark?
Every of these collaborators has left an indelible mark on my coronary heart and artistry. They’ve taught me to belief my instinct, stretch my limits, and embrace the magic of inventive alchemy. With Dominique and Mikal particularly, there was a direct synergy—an ease and shared language that made the method really feel like house, which helped form the muse of my sound. Bonnie taught me a lot about narrative readability and world resonance, and Bleu helped me problem my musical and lyrical precision. I really feel immensely and infinitely grateful for his or her brilliance and generosity.
Who had been the artists or information you grew up listening to that also echo in your songwriting right now? Are there any up to date artists you are feeling creatively aligned with or impressed by?
I grew up listening to Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, and Norah Jones—songwriters whose honesty and melody felt like a tender place to land. Their affect runs by way of every part I do. Extra lately, I’ve discovered inspiration within the work of artists like Lizzy McAlpine, Gracie Abrams, and Phoebe Bridgers—musicians who paint emotions with poetry and texture. I really feel a deep kinship with that method to storytelling.
Let’s rewind a bit in time—rising up in Montreal’s vibrant arts and musical theatre scene, do you keep in mind the second music shifted from a ardour to a calling?
Sure, completely. I feel music referred to as to me quietly at first—by way of the curtain calls and crescendos of Montreal’s musical theatre scene. I cherished performing and storytelling, however I didn’t but know that music would turn into the deepest expression of who I’m. That shift occurred unexpectedly, one night in highschool. I keep in mind writing in my journal, and as a substitute of simply studying the phrases, I heard them and set to melody—nearly like they had been singing themselves.
That’s after I realized I needed to discover songwriting extra deeply. Over time, it grew to become clear to me that music brings collectively all my passions: story, emotion, reflection, connection, and creativity. That realization is what led me to pursue it extra significantly in college.
Talking of college, you’ve been pursuing a Grasp’s in Songwriting at Berklee whereas releasing music—have you ever accomplished this system now? How has that academic-creative area formed your method to construction, language, or stylistic boundaries?
I truly already earned my Grasp’s in Songwriting… time actually flies. This system actually modified how I thought of construction, language, and magnificence. It deepened my understanding of music type, prosody, and lyrical intention in such profound methods. It challenged me to discover past my consolation zones—stylistically, emotionally and structurally. It’s like being given a toolkit to construct higher bridges between feeling and type. I grew to become extra curious, extra intentional, and extra open to experimentation, which was one of many best items.
Whereas your debut album Unfastened Ends explored aftermaths and unstated truths, “Summer time’s Right here” feels lighter—extra open, grounded and joyful. Would you say you’re in a brand new inventive season now, or is that this extra of a standalone second of levity?
That’s such a ravishing solution to put it. I feel “Summer time’s Right here” is each a second of levity and a harbinger of a broader shift. Unfastened Ends was very a lot an excavation—a journey by way of the previous. Now, I really feel like I’m writing from the current second with extra softness and readability. There’s a pleasure in that! I’m studying to stay the query, not simply analyze the reply—and that’s coloring my music in new, extra hopeful hues. That stated, there’s additionally a broader arc on the horizon that explores a compendium of various emotional palettes.
Wanting forward, how would you describe the emotional core of your subsequent album-in-progress? What themes are pulling at you most proper now? Can we anticipate any surprises?
The subsequent album is shaping as much as be a mosaic of tenderness, curiosity and changing into. I’m drawn to themes of self-trust, love, transformation, connection and progress. There’s a thread of emotional chiaroscuro (my new favourite phrase!)—mild and darkish in dance with one another. And sure, I feel there can be a couple of sonic surprises too. I’m embracing my inspirations whereas additionally experimenting with new writing and manufacturing strategies that I feel will mirror on the soundscape and resonance of the album as an entire.
This all sounds good—I, for one, can’t wait to listen to your new music. To shut us out, right here’s a enjoyable query: in the event you needed to end the sentence: “Proper now, summer season means…”—what would you say? No strain to be profound (although I think you may be anyway).
Proper now, summer season means strolling barefoot by way of fleeting moments, gathering heat in your palms, and studying to let the sunshine linger!
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