Written by: Dave Cantrell

Well, now, we understand that this isn’t your typical kind of summer, the type where music publications everywhere would be flooding the webs with effervescent summer ‘jams’ to help everyone get in that sunburned spiked iced tea windblown beachy kind of mood. Fact is, we here at SEM aren’t generally prone to that trend anyway (not to mention very seldom if ever using the word ‘jams’) and yet…and yet…seeing as we are prone at times to showing a contrarian streak, today, five days past the solstice, we’re going to throw caution to the pandemic wind and regale you all with a TOTD that just may outshine the shiniest of summer pop gems in the history of summer pop gems.

Authored by the inimitable Kane Nania from Santa Barbara (of course) dba SODAPOP (again kind of ‘of course’), “Watered Down” takes some sunny funk and applies it to a feel-goodness that, literally, cannot be beat. Buoyant but not cloying – which, don’t know about you but, around here that pretty much defines ‘genuine’ – we’ve had this on repeat for the last couple weeks, twirling in hopeful circles hoping that the summer that’s coming has at least a passing chance at realizing the promise this track so effortlessly embodies. Optimism’s pretty fucking hard-won these days, and we can use all the help we can get, which is why we so appreciate a song-out-of-nowhere like this. Gives us hope, for summer, for humanity, for sanity. Check it, and send us a pop-up video of you dancing on your patio, in your kitchen, with  your dog. Peace…[photo credit: Gad Girling; @gadg on IG]