Under The Freeway Overpasses

Haim “Summer Girl”

“Summer Girl” sounds a bit like Haim trying to figure out how to play Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” but ending up somewhere else entirely. The feeling of it is extremely LA in the way Reed’s song is extremely NYC – a little more slack to the rhythm, a lot more implied space and sunlight in the mix. It’s also a lot more hopeful than cynical, as Danielle Haim wrote this an expression of love and empathy for her partner Ariel Rechtshaid when he was being treated for cancer. A lot of the lyrics are just her observing him in his lowest moments of fear and anxiety, and doing her best to be strong and selfless. She references Joni Mitchell at one point, calling back to her old line “laughter and crying, you know it’s the same release,” but putting it into a new context where it’s no longer coming from a place of isolation and insecurity. The saxophone part, written by Rostam Batmanglij, adds to the atmosphere without dipping into kitsch or pushing the song too far into retro pastiche. As much as the song is indebted to the past, it’s firmly present in the moment and focused on its message of unconditional love.

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