In 2003, Yo La Tengo released Summer Sun, an album begun fittingly enough with the piece "Beach Party Tonight." The whole piece exudes a soft, textured atmosphere that at the same time calls to mind revelry. Though nothing is concrete, this feeling permeates the piece, especially as the instrumental ensemble grows throughout the song. "Beach Party Tonight" adds vocals as a separate instrument that furthers the warmness called to mind - the lyrics themselves are hardly distinguishable, but the effect is enhanced, not lessened. Summer Sun, the album title, thus fits perfectly with the title and atmosphere of this song. Percussion is used sparingly to ground the track while rounding out the sonic frequencies at play. At the same time, though the piece is comparatively short at 3 minutes, it maintains an evolving song structure and fades out gradually; the full audio space is utilized to great benefit here. This piece is a mellow song on an album of mellow songs but deftly evades tedium.
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