We also enjoy walks in the park, brunch, and early springtime…
[Video]
[6.25]
Katherine St Asaph: A lot of singer-songwriters aim for this, but not since “1973” has something actually sounded this much like a decades-old record, Carly Simon with synths perhaps, that stumbled from the ’80s into the future. The sheer untrendiness of “Daylight Matters” is worth at least a point.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: Being a bit out of the loop, I’d always thought Cate Le Bon was a bit of an arty weirdo. Maybe she is, but “Daylight Matters” is practically normcore. Sounding like an AM radio version of Laura Marling for a few syllables per verse, I’m not sure if she’s seducing or willing a lover to sleep at times. But she’s got a lovely way with a melody either way.
[7]
Alfred Soto: The guitar parts are precise, on point. The bass does some curious poking. Yet this has so little rhythmic excitement that by the third minute I lost interest in Cate Le Bon’s musings.
[5]
Iris Xie: “Daylight Matters” is as light as the first moments of when dawn breaks, and the saturated dark neon blue of the pre-morning breaks into peaches and lavenders amongst cottony, fogged lights. The arrangement and performance is extremely slight and dissolves into nothing, like the edge of a sugar veil melting on to a petit four, leaving no aftertaste.
[5]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: A song fit for ambling in the park, where there’s no particular time you have planned to return home. Every instrument sounds like it’s wanting to embody that firm, casual aimlessness. It’s comforting, but almost too easy to forget. It’s a surprising asset.
[6]
Alex Clifton: Look, I love anything that reminds of sunshine in Paris and/or sounds like Belle & Sebastian, so this plays well with me. It’s definitely easy listening but I have a strong urge to host a sophisticated brunch with nice wine on someone’s deck with this on loop in the background, so if that’s a Springtime Mood for you, you’ll like it.
[6]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The horn and guitar riffs that float through this track lend it a feeling of early spring — stiller than the chaos of winter, but not yet in the full bloom of the season. And with each repeated “I love you” of the song’s hook, Cate Le Bon immerses herself deeper into that feeling, lost in a shimmering dream of things past. It’s a track about sacrificing the realities you live with for beautiful illusions, and it sounds like it too.
[8]
Ian Mathers: Despite the surface straightforwardness of all those “I love you”s (even with “but you’re not here”), there’s a woozy kind of contemplative feel to the song itself. It feels more like Le Bon is trying to figure something out than declare anything, which is just about perfect for the overcast, quiet afternoon “Daylight Matters” seems to call for.
[7]