There’s no harm in emulating your idols as long as you bring something new to the conversation. Bill Ricchini — a.k.a. Summer Fiction — is clearly crazy for the Beach Boys in his lovely sophomore record, Himalaya, but there are myriad instances where he’s comfortable with stepping beyond the boardwalk. Yes, “Lauren Lorraine” has the same mid-tempo jaunt and sporadic tambourine jingles as Pet Sounds offering “Here Today,” but the Philadelphia native imbues a sense of genre unpredictability on shy, acoustic-folk ballads like “By My Side,” a wordless piano-and-flute interlude called “Manchester,” and the church-ready organ-trilling closer, “Cathedral.”
You can hear Himalaya in full below, preorder it here, and grab it for yourself on June 16.
