South Summit sink their teeth into the new year with the sophomore EP, 'Creatures'

Perth’s South Summit have well and truly earned the badges of ‘indie role models for reconciliation’ and ‘ones to watch’ (triple j) over the past year, and the start of 2023 sees the five-piece set the bar high with their brand new EP, ‘Creatures’ - a release that sees the band having well and truly surpassing the expectations placed upon them.

Sophomore EP ‘Creatures’ provides South Summit the opportunity to bookend this formative chapter of their story, with a culminating body of work pulling inspiration from the challenges and adversity they’ve faced & overcome in the year preceding. Featuring acclaimed singles ‘Promise Me’, ‘Tired of Waiting’ & ‘Runaway’, the EP also adds 3 new tracks, with the release being opened with ‘Yaama’ (hello) & finished with ‘Yaluu’ (bye). Focus-track ‘Changes’ is notable, with frontman Isaiah Reuben diving into personal turmoil, realising that obstacles & change is inevitable; giving in to this and working to move forward, growing into someone stronger and denying stagnation.

South Summit’s ability to blend modern Australian Indie sounds with elements of reggae and dub could easily put them in the same pigeon hole as contemporaries Ocean Alley, however, the Perth five-piece maintain an element of rawness. Throughout ‘Creatures’ guitars swirl, sway and phase in a wall of 6-stringed tones, allowing the bass to take to the front, something more consistent with reggae/dub/roots, yet nothing gets bogged down - it’s all nicely balanced, which helps bring out the best in Isaiah’s vocals. Intro track, ‘Yaama’ sucks you in, and gives a hint of Goanna for the new generation, before moving into the more smoother, bouncier indie roots cut ‘Tired of Waiting’. Placed quite rightfully in the middle, the focus shifts to the massive ‘Changes’ - a track that soothes and grooves as it weaves its way, letting Isaiah purge the fear of uncertainty, and embrace the strength in accepting one’s personal evolution. The band have a knack for carving out soaring, catchy choruses, which pull back into a wash of watery guitars, becoming a baptism of West Oz coastal indie goodness.

The band elaborate more on the importance of ‘Changes’ as a key track on the new EP.

“‘Changes’ refers to these songs being their own sound and their own creature. The EP itself is a collection of all these songs we’ve been making as individual pieces, into one body of work. It’s a token of appreciation to the fans who have supported us through a huge year, a release that defines the last year of our journey as a band. Going from a local band in the Perth scene to growing to find some recognition nationally, we’d like to thank all of those who helped us get there.” South Summit

This EP was done in blocks of days in the studio spread out months apart, usually working on 1-2 songs at a time. This allowed us to focus strongly on each song as its own piece of work. The majority of the recording was done with our go-to producer Dave Parkin at Blackbird Studios in Perth, we love his process of recording and it seemed to really click with us as a band. While on tour in Sydney we realised we had a bit of free time in the week so we came to an agreement to record with Callum Howell at Forbes Street Studios in Sydney. We stayed for 4 days to record our new track ‘Changes’. The idea behind recording in this totally new space was to try something different to what we were used to and just see what happens. South Summit

Working with long-time collaborator Dave Parkin (Spacey Jane, Tired Lion) for the majority of the EP (all tracks excluding ‘Changes’), the band took band-room jams, and fleshed them out to broader pieces of work, before working intently with Parkin to scalp them into the tracks heard today. ‘Changes’ is the work of Forbes Street Studios (Billie Eilish, Elton John, G-Flip) producer Callum Howell (Ocean Alley, Flume). With the band in Sydney, they took the groovy & soulful track to him, allowing his expertise in arrangements and tonal choices to shine through.

Focused intently on spreading positivity through their work, South Summit also took to visiting schools, prisons & youth detention centres across WA for NAIDOC week last year, providing inmates & attendees with an opportunity to share in their performance, cultures and a chance to connect with the band over a shared passion for music & creativity.

It’s time for you to take in South Summit’s sophomore EP, ‘Creatures’, which is available now on all streaming platforms.