Cayucas with Walker Lukens
For their fourth album as Cayucas, brothers Zach and Ben Yudin are heading back to the beach—in other words, to the sunny, vibrant, melodic rock from which they first paddled out. A year or so on from their third album Real Life and nearly a decade since their debut, Bigfoot, in the summer of 2019 Cayucas sat down to take stock of their lot. With Real Life they had achieved a bigger, poppier, more bombastic sound; before that, with 2015’s Dancing at the Blue Lagoon, they had explored a moodier and more artsy terrain. Bigfoot had put them on the indie pop map with its catchy songwriting, buoyant rhythms, and singalong choruses, with lyrics celebrating the bright, coastal Californian life and all it has to offer. "We were listening to a ton of Beach Boys music, fantasizing about living coastal again, and writing songs reminiscent of the original demos I wrote for Cayucas back in 2011—that’s kind of our base. For the first time in a while that idea felt really fresh and exciting; let’s go back to what really worked for us as songwriters and felt special, and what was most authentic for who we are as artists. To write songs that hearken back to where it all started now feels really good again.” When it came time to title the record, only one phrase seemed to capture the mood correctly. “The album is called Blue Summer, which is a lyric in the song ‘Malibu ’79 Long,’” Zach says. “It just felt right as a title. It was simple, classic and evokes the mood. No matter your feelings about the warmest season, be sure that Cayucas will always be there to provide its perfect soundtrack.
WALKER LUKENS
Austin, TX-based songwriter has become well known for embracing contradiction, "blending genres and techniques" (Billboard) into a sound that's hard to pin down. NPR's All Songs Considered described him as a "rhythmic sound effect master" who creates "curious, textured music," while World Cafe called it "wonderfully inventive." “I’ve never wanted to be one of those songwriters who compartmentalizes what part of their lives comes out in their songs," he says. "I wanted to deal with Trump, and Charlottesville, and the 'Me Too' movement alongside things like breaking up and falling in love." Lukens took creative inspiration from work like Bob Dylan's famously wide-ranging double LP 'Blonde on Blonde' as well as Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' while writing and recording ADULT. "That, to me, is the trick - making something personal and political that doesn't try to make sense of itself," he says. 'ADULT' was produced by Spoon drummer Jim Eno, and features new tracks along with the previously released singles "Baby" and "Tear It Out My Heart."
