Beach Season

Like any good junkie, getting a new hit to digest gives you a fix to feed your addiction. Mine for this week? Beach Season’s new EP titled Internet Evening. The relaxed and at times, melancholic, soundscape of
Sam Avant, has been on repeat since its recent release. The rhythms intertwine with unobtrusive beats and sway with Avant’s gauzy vocals.

The 20-year-old Calgary local isn’t new to the music scene, although
has this electronic project is a departure from his previous endeavours
as the hip hop duo “Obey the Crooks” and can be categorized as chill
wave or as Avant has coined, the term “Booty Wave”. Avant defines it
as the fusion of ambient textures and funky, up tempo beats, borderline
house mixed with a bit of booty shaking music. Taking some inspiration
from the work of TWRK and Diplo with the twerk style but dialing it
back. Other influences include Banks, Kaytranada, Snakehips…and a
current obsession with Bill Withers, who Avant describes as “The
coolest dude. Always wears turtlenecks yet still so badass.” His
musical journey involved getting tricked into piano lessons at the
tender age of eight, followed by drums but due to as his self described
“terrible band chemistry”, he discovered sitting in his room alone
and messing around on his laptop proved more fruitful for his music
production than joining a band. Upon meeting his Obey The Crooks
partner, Simon, he was introduced to hip hop and was deeply impacted by
Kanye West’s “Graduation”. That album became the catalyst for his
foray into music production.

2Calgary has become a nurturing city for the young artist. Although initially difficult to breakthrough, and starting as a self declared “basement rat”, he eventually met people with similar interest and
developed a sense of community among the likes fellow artists, the hip hop collective, ReFreshed and the monthly showcase, 10 At 10.

Considering the current Canadian winter, the moniker “Beach Season” might seem out of place but it was a suggestion from his older brother and was cemented during a trip to Asia and lounging on the sand.

One of my favourite tracks from the EP is titled “Paris” and punctuated with film related lyrics, most notably, the 1942 classic, Casablanca. “We’ll always have Paris” was sampled and became the hook for the track, written while on a road trip with his parents.

Another film related lyric, referencing the John Hughes cult classic
Ferris Bueller’s Day off: “Tell me what it’s like to take a day
off, Ferris, because I can’t stop till we all make it to Paris”. The
song was written at a time when the hard work wasn’t paying off and
feeling disheartened. Ferris Bueller, being a paragon for Avant, who
calls him a “cool cat” and glorifies the carefree attitude of doing
what he wants with an ease and ignorance for consequence.

Garnering buzz from Ear Milk, Close to Modern and local bloggers such as
Ladywood, this is a must for your playlists. Download Beach Season’s
Internet Evening: - FREQ Magazine

Opening the new year for us is the 20 year old Canadian wonder, Beach Season, who just premiered his debut EP - Internet Evening - on Close To Modern. Although the name might not sound too familiar to many people, the musically inclined psychology student from Calgary isn't necessarily a new face, per se. Previously known as one half of the hip hop duo, Obey the Crooks, Sam Avant takes on a whole new solo project created in his home studio that leans more on the side of electronica and smooth pop vibes.

Play Good Boy 2 - Beach Season - Good Boy 2 (03:15)

Composed of six tracks, Internet Evening begins with Avant's serenading voice on "Evenings" that rides an easily digestible tone full of rolling toms that sound as organic as the vocals. The same sentiment goes for tracks like "Say It" and "Good Boy" that wash over us gently with the multiple layers of celestial chords drifting in an out of sonic focus.

"Paris", for me, has the most engaging identity from the batch. Reminding us that when all else fails we can always look upon Paris, Avant's unassuming vocal sensitivities easily sweep us off our feet. Add to the fact that the song also holds his catchiest display of lyrical capabilities, and you've got a number of listeners swooning. Giving a rounded feel to the EP are tracks "Situations" and "The Internet" that pick up the pace and close in on an upbeat and cheery spirit at the right moments when we begin to relapse on melancholia.

Play Paris - Beach Season - (Paris) (02:52)

Out now on a donation basis, you can listen to the entire EP here, and choose to pay however much you'd like. Don't sleep on this one, guys and girls - it's great. - Earmilk

Beach Season is perfectly suited for his moniker. The 20 year old is laid-back, relaxed, and charmingly unaware that he is one of the most interesting singer-songwriter-producers to come out of Calgary in recent memory. He calls his music “Booty Wave.” Part chillwave, part R&B, Beach is crafting a groovy, woozy brand of beats that are distinctly his own, complimented by his own buttery vocals and dreamy, delicate falsetto. His music is hard to classify: melancholic yet funky, rich and glittery in texture yet still somehow delightfully simplistic, with an overall vibe that evokes the tranquil bliss of summertime and warmer days. While Calgary is quickly becoming a hotbed for musical talent, Beach Season (real name Sam Avant) stands out in a local scene that’s dominated by indie rock, hip-hop and electronic acts. He’s quickly becoming Calgary’s poster child for alternative R&B, and could be poised to enter an arena that’s been previously dominated by artists from the genre’s mecca – Toronto.

He’s no rookie to the local music scene, having produced and performed as part of hip-hop duo Obey The Crooks for a number of years, but thanks to his recent solo releases including an EP, Internet Evening, Beach has been making waves of his own beyond his city’s borders. His latest single offering “Midnights” and its accompanying video are getting quite a bit of attention, and with appearances at both Canadian Music Week and NXNE coming up, we thought it was a good time to sit down with this young triple threat to learn more.

Noisey: Who is Beach Season?
Beach Season: Ha – that’s a good question. Simon (also known as Monski, the other half of Obey The Crooks) and I always try to figure out what it is exactly we do. I’m guess a producer, a singer … ultimately I want to be recognized as more than a musician though. Music is a great way to say what you want to say, build your fanbase and let people know what you’re about, so I’ll always make music, but I want to be a renaissance man. An influencer.

How did you start making music?
It’s actually funny – my mom tricked me into taking piano lessons. My brother was playing guitar and he had a teacher that would come to our house. And all of a sudden one day Tom was finishing his lesson and my mom was like, “Your turn! Surprise, you are taking piano!” At the time piano was kind of lame. It wasn’t a cool instrument like guitar or drums. After a few years I switched to drums because my childhood best friend was playing them. And then I eventually moved on to doing more piano and doing singing lessons. I was really into like indie music back then and wanted to join a band. Then I started listening to electronic and realized “Hey I could do this! I could hop on my laptop and make music.” I downloaded Fruity Loops and it went from there.

What was the music like that you were making back then?
To be honest, I was listening to our first songs that we ever released recently and I realized we have the nicest friends because none of them ever told us how bad it was.

Was that with Monski?
Yeah we’ve always made music together. He really introduced me to hip-hop music. I was making beats on my computer and one day Simon said he had always wanted to rap so we just went for it.

You said that listening to electronic music turned you on to the idea that it was something you could do. Who were some of the artists that you were listening to then?
Passion Pit. The song “Sleepyhead”, that whole album (Chunk of Change). It’s seems like kind of a lame album to say, “This is the album that changed me life,” but it did in a weird way.

Are there any Canadian artists in particular that you are digging at the moment?
Kaytranada for sure. I love the music he makes – such a funky and groovy style. I also really like Grimes. She makes some dope stuff. And actually I’ve been listening to a lot of my friend Mackenzie. He makes music under the name SKVTR. It’s rare that you’ll actually listen to your friend’s music on your own time or in your car, but he’s one person that I really do listen to.

Where did the name Beach Season come from?
Well, the beach was always a part of my life. As a kid we used to go and vacation on the coast and go to the beach all the time. My mom always had a ton of beach-themed decorative things around the house. But it’s kind of a funny story how I took the name. I had some bad anxiety problems right out of high school. I felt kind of lost and didn’t know what I was doing. Then I decided to go travel in Asia for a bit, which was a pretty crazy experience and a huge culture shock for me. I had a song called “Beach Season” that I listened to a lot on that trip. And when I was on the beaches in Thailand or wherever I didn’t have any anxiety or any worries. I felt like it was a good name because I kind of wanted to carry that mentality and feeling into my music.

You wanted it to be Beach Season all the time?
Exactly.



Besides that, did traveling affect you or inspire you in any other ways?
Oh yeah. I think traveling, especially to poorer countries, really shows you what you need and what you don’t need. It also puts the bigger picture in perspective. On my trip, I realized what I wanted to do: I made the decision to drop out of school because it wasn’t what I really wanted. It’s crazy going to countries where people live in metal huts and are so unbelievably happy. Like, this guy has one change of clothes, he’s never seen a computer before and he loves life. He’s living right now. We definitely have so many opportunities here in North America. We are empowered to be whomever we want.

Tell us more about your latest song “Midnights”.
Well that song is sort of like a sequel or follow up to another one of my songs, “Evenings.” “Evenings” is about a break up with a girl, and “Midnights” is about getting over that breakup and starting to have a little too much fun.

So would you say that your songs are inspired by your own life?
Oh very much so. I can’t make music unless it’s from my own life or experiences. All of my songs are very personal, but I like it that way.

What reaction do you want people to have to your music then? Happiness? Sadness?
I just want to bring a piece of my world into theirs. Maybe convey a feeling that they can connect with. I would love it if they could realize something different or see thing from a new perspective.

Will you always make music with Simon?
I hope so. Consuming music is definitely something to be shared – if you think about it there’s the performer-audience relationship and that in itself is sharing – but I think the act of making music is something to be shared too. I love making music with people. It’s inspiring.

Do you have any big goals for the next year?
I try not to get too specific with my goals. I just want to enjoy the ride I'm on and… be comfortable I guess. Be self-sufficient. Be able to feed myself and afford to live. Release my own music whenever I want to. To find success somewhere in between all that would be nice.

How do you define success?
When someone tells me they like my song I love it, of course. I feed off that; it makes me the happiest person ever. But I feel like success does come from within as well, like feeling you did something good and gave it your all. Ultimately I want to feel like I’ve made an impact, influenced someone or inspired some emotion out of someone.

Why should people care about you?
Hmm. That’s a hard question. I don’t know if anyone HAS to care about me. But I want people to take a listen and keep an open mind. Try to see something from someone else’s perspective. See a different side of things or a different life. Everyone has their own opinion so I understand if you don’t like it. Honestly I’m still not completely happy with anything I’ve ever made, either solo or with OTC. It can always be better. I’ve kind of come to the realization that’s the curse of being an artist. You’ll never be happy with yourself. The day I become satisfied is the day it’s over for me. - Noisey Vice

Local Calgarian Samual Avant went out on a musical limb and he's doing some serious production. Persuing a solo project called Beach Season Mr. Avant realeased his first EP 'Internet Evening.' It's featured on Close to Modern and shows the intense variability this artist possesses. Electronic based, Beach Season's tracks are full of sultry lyrics and smooth beats. 2014 is starting out right for this young lad and I suggest you give his EP a serious listen. You may know him as one half of Obey The Crooks but after hearing 'Internet Evening' Beach Season will be on your mind. . -Ray - Ladywood Music

For all of you out there fans of chillwave, electro-funk and the new found "booty wave" movement are going to fall in love with Beach Season. This Calgary based duo is kicking off their first tour with a show at Dickens Pub in Calgary this Friday. These guys make incredibly beautiful music that is kind of like a mix of Rhye and Black Atlass and it gives me the feels everytime I listen to it. We sat down with Sam, lead singer of Beach Season to chat about whats coming up for the bad. Check out our interview section for more details. Get your tickets for the show here. -C - Ladywood Music