Watch: Fool Hardy (I Will Never Forget This Summer) — Sylvan Weekends

Sylvan Weekends, who I wrote about back in February, are back with another slice of nostalgic and youthful pop music.

In February, Young And Freewheeling struck me for its beautiful tension between innocence and excitement at the possibilities afforded by growing up. In contrast, the message in Fool Hardy seems a little more straightforward. The song is a pitch to lose yourself, be present and seize the moment.

Even so, Fool Hardy has depth. The song is written from the perspective of being in the moment, yet reflecting on how the memories will sit, experienced from the future:

“Now, when I feel the sun beating down, I think of all your kisses. I’m really gonna miss this.”

Leveraging their trademark genre-bending style, Sylvan Weekends combine banjo, synths, and unison vocal work to give Fool Hardy its distinctive sound. It is energetic, youthful, and full of heart. The song arrives with a joyous video that sees bandmates Matthew, Freya, and Daniel hanging out in a single room. In the video, they juxtapose the introspection of the song’s verse with a chorus that makes the band flip into a choreographed dance routine.

As noted with Young and Freewheeling, Sylvan Weekends have an affinity for nostalgia, and Fool Hardy is a song that manages to capture the feeling of being nostalgic for a moment whilst it is still happening… This collapsing in of an experience only happens at times that feel so special you can’t help but be somewhat aware of it, even as it is happening.

As a chronic over-thinker, I have certainly had the experience of being almost too aware of the significance of a moment as it happens. Sylvan Weekends’ plea to be fool hardy is a useful reminder to be in the moment.

Listen: Young And Freewheeling — Sylvan Weekends

Sylvan Weekends’ single Young And Freewheeling hums with a kind of excited, youthful energy. It’s the feeling of late sunny summer evenings spent on a bike, discovering the world and marvelling at the sheer possibility as you begin to grow up.

It’s that youthful abandon Sylvan Weekends have attempted to capture here. In their own words:

“It’s a trip down memory lane, an invitation to remember the joy of pelting down the road full tilt, in a world before adult worries became real. It’s an invitation to return to that carefree way of being.”

Sylvan Weekends are a trio of musicians, each with a distinct background. Matthew plays folk, Freya instrumental-electro and Danial rock. Together, they create a hard-to-pin-down sound, but co-writers Matthew and Freya bring together their vocal harmonies to give the music the nostalgic sound at play here.

The aesthetic of Young And Freewheeling, a kind of electronic folksiness, reminds me of the likes of early Arcade Fire, and I’m From Barcelona. There is an apparent joy at the act of play itself. Vocal harmonies that weave in and out of one another, moments where the band seemingly try to out do one another in an attempt to play as quietly as possible. The music becomes what it embodies — a tribute to childhood that is child-like in its sound.

Young And Freewheeling is a beautiful depiction of innocence and possibility, yet in actuality the feeling it depicts seems almost tragically constrained by the need to grow, and grow older. The freedom is itself what leads to choices and consequence.