Hello Friends

Summer Flake has returned in full force with Hello Friends, the follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2013 debut LP You Can Have It All. The album marks a new era for Melbourne-via-Adelaide musician Stephanie Crase (whose former credits include No Through Road, Birth Glow, Hit the Jackpot and Batrider), having enlisted the production finesse of Geoffrey O'Connor to propel her idiosyncratically sun-drunk guitar pop into new and lusher territories. Drenched in a timelessness of reverb, Summer Flake's songs are transcendent - moving through the dreamy wings of pop, via the Crystals and the Paris Sisters, down the lonely byways of Karen Dalton and Laurel Canyon folkies, ambling up into the grubby 90s of Hole and Sonic Youth, before lingering out finally into the sunshine of other dream-pop contemporaries like Best Coast or Mac Demarco. It's only the second full-length release for Summer Flake but Crase's output has been prolific over the last four years, with four EPs under her belt that garnered increasing attention in Australia and internationally. In August 2015, Henry Rollins premiered 'The Sun Won't Shine' (the debut single from the Time Rolls By EP) on legendary Californian public radio station KCRW, with Rollins proclaiming "we love this band". Hello Friends continues Crase's tendency for the thoughtful arrangements, '90s-tinged frankness and dizzying harmonies that have led her from strength to strength, this time adding a deeper layer of emotional reflection to an already enduring sound. These songs, as delicate as a snowflake on a summer beach, succeed in unmooring one from the drudgeries of place and time. This new release secures Summer Flake as a band to watch. ACCLAIM FOR 'HELLO FRIENDS': 4 STARS - "Crase has conjured a rough kind of magic on a record that will surely be among the most enigmatic Australian releases this year." - Rolling Stone 4 STARS - "At once smooth, airy, bright and crackling, Hello Friends shows an artist that has her sound buried in something darker than those beautiful harmonies would first suggest, and this makes for some incredibly powerful rock’n’roll." - The Brag 4 STARS - "Crase's skill is in making it all seem effortless, whether it's coldly dissecting those around her, switching from loud to quiet à la the Pixies, or peeling off an epic solo." - Beat 4 STARS - "Melancholy spiked with grit and weary optimism, Hello Friends is a winner all the way." - The Music “Shoot and score, take what’s yours,” Crase sings, perhaps forecasting her group’s inevitable rise to prominence.“ - Stereogum "It comes with high expectations, almost three years after Summer Flake’s much-lauded debut, You Can Have It All. And I am happy to say it will blow most of those expectations out of the water." - The Saturday Paper “Australia is blessed with some truly stunning and idiosyncratic singer/songwriters - and Hello Friends is proof that Summer Flake is the cream of the crop” – Sonic Masala "You'll hear meticulous, effortless sounding harmonies, shimmering but restrained lead guitar and a knack for melody that can't be taught.” - Double J "Crase's dulcet harmonies and thoughtful arrangements suggest she'll have no trouble holding her on own." - Noisey "Flake slows the pace down to emulate a lazy, twangy rhythm, places her distorted chords front-and-center, and layers her easy vocals to create a lush, summer-into-fall anthem." - SPIN “I say it almost every time I have to write about a new song of hers, but Steph Crase really is a genius.” - Blerg "Stephanie Crase’s Summer Flake project is becoming Australia’s finest purveyor of moody and melodic guitar pop” - Poncho TV “Melodic as f*ck” - Indie Shuffle “We love this band” - Henry Rollins

A constructor of weighty yet shimmery guitar textures that often take their time to explore a thought, Summer Flake is Australian musician Stephanie Crase, who returns three years after her solo project's full-length debut with sophomore LP Hello Friends.