Premiere: Avid Dancer, ‘Feels’

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Avid Dancer
Avid Dancer

Singer-songwriter Jacob Summers debuted the first music that would personify his project Avid Dancer almost seven years ago. Over two albums (2015’s “First Bath” and last year’s “Sharaya”) and the EPs and singles he has released since, he has mostly mined the vein of classic guitar-pop, ’60s and ’70s style. A lover of love songs, he keeps things emotionally direct and spectacularly simple.

He makes it sound easy on the Beatlesque single “Feels,” which comes out this Friday. From the opening “na-na-nas” to the rolling melody of the chorus, it’s one of those songs your ears tell you should have been written already. But here it is, a new Avid Dancer confessional about attuning to life changes.

In Summers’ case, those are big changes. “I recently found out that my wife Sharaya is pregnant, so you can imagine the growth I’ve been trying to achieve in my own life recently. Or maybe you can’t, who knows?” he says. “As for me, I was struggling to find a vision for what my music ‘career’ and life in general would look like after the independent release of my last album, until this baby became a part of my future.

“I’m at a place where I feel that I started: making music because it is how I relate to my life. And because it’s what I love to do. … Lately I’ve been siding towards less production, less tricks. Just basic instruments and one vocal. I’m trying to be a little more vulnerable, whatever that means. I’m not sure how previous listeners of my music will feel about what I’m doing now, but I’m resolved to stick to what feels good to me … And ‘Feels’ was inspired by personal experiences. It’s a song about the ups and downs of life, taking them all in as chances to grow and accepting all the feelings as beautiful and full of meaning.”

||| Stream: “Feels”

||| Previously: “Sharaya” (the album and an interview); “Little Bird,” “Favorite Dreams,” “You Only Like Me With the Lights Out”