UK based singer-songwriter, Rob Lea has just released his latest single, Summer in the Morning, and we here at Send Me Your Ears are here to tell you to stop whatever you’re doing right now and go take a listen to this gorgeous summer anthem.
With a filtered EQ start, this is a song that just bursts into life with Rob’s superb modern sounding vocals that just ooze commercial appeal. For fans of Jack Johnson or perhaps Bruno Mars, this is a song that is sure to delight.
Summer In The Morning develops well and has great separation between sections. With one of the most catchy choruses we’ve heard this month, this song has hit potential all over it.
According to his biography, Rob Lea performs in a Queen tribute band, and it is his spectacular head voice and control that blew us away. His vocals are crystal clear throughout the song with some great character and uniqueness, but those head voice notes are an absolute goosebump inducing joy to listen to.
Summer In The Morning has a kind of reggae beat to it, with some nice touches and drum fills to make the track seem even more authentic, this is a song you feel you could sit on the beach and listen to on repeat.
We like how the instrumentation in this track is constantly changing and ensuring that at no point does Lea lose the listener. In fact, we felt like we should be dancing on our desks, or at the very least, singing along!
The addition of a chorus of background vocals is another nice touch and this is a track that feels as though a great deal of thought has gone into the scoring to make sure every second of it keeps the listener buzzing.
From a production perspective, there is some unnecessary rumble in the sub bass area in parts of the song so a hi pass at around 35Hz would filter this out. A cut in the lead vocal track around 160Hz would counter the boominess caused by the proximity effect during the parts of the song where the vocal line is lower, particularly in the breakdown. Another cut in the vocal track around 600-700Hz would reduce some honky / nasal frequencies too. A high shelf boost in the top two octaves would add to the brightness and ‘life’ in the track but a separate notch out around 9kHz to avoid boosting the sibilance in the vocal track too much.
Rob Lea is very clearly a talented, passionate and determined performer. Summer In The Morning is the follow up to his debut single, Reflection, and if this is anything to go by, this is most definitely an artist to watch. One of our favourites this week.