Make it a Subtle summer

Category: music 106

Saint John musician Drew Sweet channels the anxious excitement the warmer weather brings with a new two-song EP. 

Matt Carter 

New music from Subtle just in time for the thick of summer? Sign me up. 

Across his previous three EPs, Subtle founder and principal songwriter Drew Sweet seemed to favour early spring or late summer release points, despite his music embodying the kind of youthful freedom associated with aimless bike rides around town and late evening games of one-on-one basketball. Sweet has now given that itch an appropriate scratch with his latest release. 

“In May, I went into Monopolized Studios and tracked everything myself,” he said. “Subtle has never released a true summer release and I wanted to attempt to capture that anxious excitement the warmer weather brings.”

The two song EP Haze / Honey Bee, finds Sweet continuing to channel his inner emo/punk while exploring the kind of new sounds and arrangements that keep this project always sounding fresh and exciting. His knack for building catchy melodies that expand and contract over highly personal lyrics help give an undefinable intimacy to each new Subtle release. 

Though he sometimes welcomes collaborators into the fold, Subtle is very much an extension of Sweet and his musical vision, and an outlet that reliably serves his creativity when called upon. 

“Subtle has and always been a project that is meant to spark joy in my life,” said Sweet. “Previous projects have been sources of anxiety and doing things on a linear timeline don’t often work for how I write music. It’s a primary project in my life, even when I’m not actively working on it.” 

Your summer playlist just got hotter. 

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