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The Summer Laden

by Ali Murray

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1.
The Summer Laden 03:17
lyrics
THE SUMMER LADEN The holidays, the summer waves All the things that I've wanted to do... The ecstasy of being free All the dreams that I wanted to come true... Just so you know I'll always be the first to go It's true... And so you see I'll always be the last to leave Yes it's true... I'll journey on where I belong never knowing when I'm going to return... The sun it fades, but I'm not afraid I promise that I'll never cease to burn... And so you know I'll always be the first to go It's true... And so you see I'll always be the last to leave Yes it's true... When rains come down on summer town Running out of breath I will never find myself with you... The birds will sing with broken wings beyond the limits of this world and the truths that will unfurl anew... When the head is gone and the night is long Explosions in my eyes and the echoes of the cries collide Without a care, as light as air I'm higher than the moon and lower than the tomb tonight Alright...
2.
Heaven All The Way 02:43
lyrics
HEAVEN ALL THE WAY I've only known you for a while but I keep you locked up like a secret file I'm living in a lifelong dream and you're the thing that should have been... A dark confession - mostly misunderstood The kind of badness that does me good And when I breathe you deep into my lungs Nothing ever makes me feel so young... Heaven all the way Riding on the wings of yesterday Heaven all the way Don't have a single reason left to stay... I feel the seasons as they come and go within my body, within my soul The ship was sinking before it even sailed A lonely mission that was doomed to fail... But I love the way you drive me all around like I am floating above the ground I would've been, could've been, should've been something better than I am but having you I do the best I can... Heaven all the way Riding on the wings of yesterday Heaven all the way Don't have a single reason left to stay...
3.
Toby 02:48
lyrics
TOBY The day you came into my life, unexpectedly My thoughts were racing, head was spinning in your company Quiet and forlorn, I think you were as confused as me Such a sad old jaded soul yet loveable and free Cast into a world where you were never meant to be Never knowing what you mean to me... Your mother was so young and your father never seen Your brother dark and crazy and your sister was a dream It couldn't have been easy growing up the way you did Seeking quiet places and just falling off the grid Sleeping through the winters like a tired invalid Never knowing you're the ultimate... Now we are good friends though you don't seem to care I wish that I could take away your sorrows and despair I see it in your eyes that you are anxious yet aware of just how much you mean to me, I swear...
4.
Don't Fade On Me (ft. Socool) 03:46
lyrics
DON’T FADE ON ME It’s coming down like confetti from the sky, soft and cheery Doesn’t it make you feel good to be alive when you’re sad and weary? Such a weird sensation to just let yourself be taken by the wind Above the mountains and over all the seas This is how it all begins… Don’t fade on me I’ll get there in the end Don’t fade on me I’m coming round again Don’t fade on me We survived against the odds Don’t fade on me This is what dreams are made of... When hope is corroding and you’re hanging off the edge There is nothing below When stars are exploding deep inside your head You’ll be in my heart so… Don’t fade on me I’ll get there in the end Don’t fade on me I’m coming round again Don’t fade on me We survived against the odds Don’t fade on me This is what dreams are made of...
5.
July The Spiral 03:47
lyrics
JULY THE SPIRAL Into the unknown I'll sink like a stone Too late to start over... The hole in the sky My lonely lie gets older and older... Because you can't look me in the eye and I can't sleep no longer It's a shame this dream will never die and everything I said was true... So hurtle me skywards to be with the stars and I will never come down... This ancient longing - it lifts me up and I will never touch the ground And I'll lose all the fires that I have spread in you I'll undo everything and start anew... Because you can't look me in the eye and I can't sleep no longer It's a shame this dream will never die and everything I said was true... The spiral... The spiral... The spiral... The spiral...
6.
Time Spent With Dog 02:54
lyrics
TIME SPENT WITH DOG (instrumental)
7.
Starlit Beaches 02:45
lyrics
STARLIT BEACHES I know our time is done before we got to have our fun Another year has passed Feels like someone is stepping on the gas to god knows where Whirlwind of dreams in the open air and in the silver glow I never wanted to come back home... I'm heading to the beach where all evil is out of reach And in my broken brain I choose to smother all the pain Now I realize there was no kindness in your eyes I'll go towards the sea Starlit beaches wait for me...
8.
Last To Leave 04:06
lyrics
LAST TO LEAVE I am waiting I'm still waiting Forever waiting I'm the last to leave... The roads are empty as the sky I'm so lonely I could die because I know I'll be the last to leave... Your smile it cuts through all the blue but there is always work to do and when it's done I'll be the last to leave... The rain it falls heavy and grey but you're enough to make me stay I will always be the last to leave... They're all asleep now The world's asleep now Without you I can weep now Protected from the truth... Saturday we'll get away... Saturday we'll get away... Saturday we'll get away... They're all asleep now The world's asleep now Without you it cuts deep now Protected from the truth... Open the gates now It's getting late now Without you there is hate now Protected from the truth... Protected from the truth... Protected from the truth...
9.
The Final Stretch 04:07
lyrics
THE FINAL STRETCH It's been a long day I'm aching to go I should be sorry at the least but it's taken its toll The weariness of living of being alive The sun is tired of burning high in the sky... I'll ride on through the dust Salvation is just a word we say to comfort ourselves The knocks that we endure The promise of a cure to give us a clean bill of health The garden of sin I'm buried within I don't need no sympathy But I'm getting anyway It's the end of the day There's nothing more to say... I got lost in the grind in the churning of time where there is no place for me I fought it tooth and nail Society has failed those who wanted to believe In the comfort of dreams the magical streams that run through the forests of our minds So leave me alone I'll carry the stone and leave the rest behind...

credits

released July 1, 2025

REVIEW :

The best-kept secret of the northern reaches of Scotland is Ali Murray, a singer-songwriter who calls the Isle of Lewis home. I’ve written about a couple of Murray’s records over the years, but I’ve really only scratched the surface of the prolific musician – under a variety of projects, he’s made music encompassing the worlds of slowcore, folk (both “traditional” and “indie rock”-focused), dream pop, ambient, shoegaze, fuzz rock, post-punk and more...
'The Summer Laden' has its own detours, but it’s primarily an album fully re-embracing folky, slowcore-inspired indie rock of both the acoustic and electric varieties. Sometimes 'The Summer Laden' is pin-drop quiet, sometimes it’s relatively amped-up, but it pretty much always feels like a delicate, thoughtful thirty-minute journey through the world of a talented and somewhat iconoclastic singer-songwriter.

The range of Murray is on full, constant display in the album's first half – he begins the record with the title track, a carefully-arranged chamber pop exercise that folds unexpectedly into the fuzzed-out indie rock of “Heaven All the Way” (the record’s loudest song and the one with the most divergent vocal performance from Murray) and then once again veers into a different world, this time via the acoustic folk of “Toby”.
The verses of “Heaven All the Way” may feel pretty dark and obscure for Murray, but the singer surfaces for a beautiful shoegaze-pop chorus, and he’s able to unite some of The Summer Laden’s more disparate moments in this way, too, like the mid-record duo of “Don’t Fade on Me” and “July the Spiral”, which jump a little further into the realms of electronic-touched, rhythmic dream pop.
The one song that rivals “Heaven All the Way” in terms of pure electricity is the album’s penultimate track, “Last to Leave” – this one is based on chugging power chords, typically held in some restraint but every now and then offering up minor explosions to go alongside Murray’s star-reaching vocals (see also the acoustic track “Starlit Beaches”, in which Murray gives so much to the barebones recording that it feels much “fuller” than it is on paper). It’s a good a time as any to get in on this particular secret.

- Rosy Overdrive

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This album was written, recorded, produced, engineered and mixed by Ali Murray on the Isle Of Lewis in the north of Scotland using home recording equipment.

Guest vocals on 'Don't Fade On Me' by Socool.

Mastered by Allister Thompson

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Artwork Photograph : Ivana Pavelka

Contact : alimurraymusic@hotmail.com

Copyright © 2025 Dead Forest Records.

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Ali Murray Scotland, UK

Ali Murray is a Scottish-Filipino songwriter & musician from the cold windy Isle of Lewis, in the north of Scotland.

He wrote and released a sizeable body of work under his own name between 2010 and 2025 via his own label - Dead Forest Records.

He also writes dark introspective ambient music as The Lonely Bell...
thelonelybell.bandcamp.com ... more

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