Album Review/ Neo Soul : Diane Summer’s ‘Urban Soulscapes’

Diane Summer is a New York-based pianist and vocalist. She reconciles moments of vulnerability with musical perspective and spatial presence. An atmosphere of intimate emotions that you can connect with without getting saturated. Her latest release is ‘Urban Soulscapes’, an album that perfectly carves out the spirit of her music and the duality of her style. Produced by Swedish music producer Kent B Nyberg, the album showcases vivid influences of soul and contemporary moments of jazz. Together, the artist brings the warm familiarity of human experience and emotion to the cool and flirty atmosphere of jazz. It’s perfect to set the mood for a night walk or a solo night in, cooking and dancing. 

The album has a lot of romance in it. Exploring themes of freedom, self-love, self-realization, community, falling in love, and soulfulness, the tracks have such a vivid feel to them. In ‘Soul Feeling Free’, the artist traces a life of joy and contentment. That feeling that everything will be okay and the feeling of freedom and connection to something bigger than you? That’s what this track feels like. With pockets of life lived, the artist strings the theme with powerful vocals and a lighthearted jazz piano line. 

The appeal of the album is its versatility. Each track is composed with the same elements, but they manifest with such nuanced personalities and features. It’s so refreshing. In ‘If I Scream My Name’, we see soul and 60s blues lighting the stage up. It’s raw, cool, and so charismatic. ‘Shadow World’ and ‘Cool Down’ are intimate, spreading and forming like an ink stain. They have a storytelling element, told with an intimacy and passionate intensity that is everything. 

‘Friends Keep Asking’ brings a little bit of quirky playfulness to the album. With soft, pulsing playfulness and a curious air, the artist details a quiet heartbreak that stays with you. ‘Night is Too Short’ has a little bit more of a dynamism. The back to back beat motif is impossible to ignore. There’s blues, there’s soul, and there’s carpe diem. If you want a song that will inspire magic into your night, one that electrifies your city and builds up the aliveness of everything around you, this song is for you. 

‘Rewind My Life’ is a soul center. A reflective and contemplative track, that flows into deep spaces of thought. With a reggae reminiscent rhythm and a flighty jazz fringe, it’s a song about a great love that got left in the past. We see a similar rhythm style in ‘River in My Head’. 

‘Upside Down World’ is plush with blues. So much blues in the soul that it climbs into the listener and then some. It is melancholic and retro, unforgettably so. This track is perfectly matched with ‘Tiny Square’. It has a similar lilting intimacy that disarms you. 

Concluding with ‘While You Sleep Through The Night’, the artist might have just saved the best for last. The vocals on this track are incredibly layered. The emotion, the story and the unspoken feelings, it’s all there. It also features vivid moments of jazz and soul. The production is made to highlight the distinctness, while forging a relationship between the styles that is specific to the feeling, the tale, the heartache. It’s beautiful and definitely remarkable. Listen Now! 

The album is available for streaming and purchase on Bandcamp!

You can listen to ‘Urban Soulscapes’ by Diane Summer here -