Spindle Radar: Eli Smart Gets Candid About Debut Album ‘No Summer’

SPINDLE first met Eli Smart back in early 2021 – fast forward a couple of years and he’s releasing his debut album ‘No Summer’. We catch up with him again to chat about his debut album release and what he’s been up to this summer. 

Hi Eli, good to catch up with you again, how does it feel to be releasing your debut album ‘No Summer’ this month? 

Hi, thank you for having me, great to be here:) It’s a very cathartic experience to release a full record of tunes, quite surreal to see all of these songs together, feels like they’ve all emerged from their own little worlds, and now they belong to one cohesive piece of music, it’s been a really cool process to go through. 

With the weather in the UK, it definitely feels like we’ve had No Summer – how has summer 2024 treated you and what have you been up to? 

Aww, I hope these songs help soften the blow of the chilly weather. This summer has been a beautiful and chaotic time of change in my world, music has been the throughline (as it always has been) I’m grateful to have made some wonderful memories with some of the people closest to me. I got to spend time in Italy with my dad and my best mate working on rebuilding an old farmhouse, might be the highlight. 

Tell us more about the album – where was it recorded and were there any key collaborators? 

The record was recorded between my flat in Lewisham with my best mate James Kerr (aka Wax Wallaby) and my studio back home on Kaua’i. My good mate Gianluca Buccellati also collaborated on a few tunes too. The songs came from a mixture of some super solo time where it was just me through the process and also some of the most fun collaborative times I’ve had with some of my best friends where music was literally just the by-product of genuine friendship in the studio.   

Which album tracks mean the most to you? 

I think it often changes, but the song ‘Another Sundown’ means the most to me right now, something about the tone and pace of it just taps into a certain nostalgic feeling of being back home. ‘Overdrive’ also always captures something special for me.

What’s the rest of 2024 got in store for you post-album release?

More shows, more tunes, more surprises and a lot of travelling!

Check out Eli Smart’s debut album, ‘No Summer’ here or below.