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What do you get when the composer for some of television’s most unforgettable soundtracks turns his attention inward? You end up with something like “Back Last Summer” the wistful new single from KRAMON, the atmospheric folk-rock project helmed by Emmy-winning composer Josh Kramon, along with singer-songwriter Hunter Hawkins. Out July 25th, it’s a quietly stunning meditation on memories, forgiveness, and the slow burn of growing up.
Kramon’s previous work examined the emotional highs and lows of the fictional lives depicted in Veronica Mars, iZombie, and Lethal Weapon. “Back Last Summer” feels very personal, as though Kramon walked off the screen and wrote his tale. Co-written and sung with Hawkins, the track is a lush, emotional tapestry woven together with guitars, cozy harmonies, and a kind of lived-in grief that doesn’t scream, just holds space all the same. It hovers somewhere between classic folk-rock and the mopey introspection of the modern indie community. There’s a crystalline quality to the instrumentation, a gentle layering that echoes the emotional complexity of the lyrics. “Back Last Summer” does not merely reminisce, it reckons. There’s an openness in Hawkins’s vocal delivery, a held-back ache that makes the past feel freshly present. As the song travels through memory-tinged verses, past a cathartic, hook-laden chorus, you feel like both artists are searching for meaning between what was said and what was left unspoken.
The song is a highlight from KRAMON’s upcoming LP, a 12-song quest into heart-on-sleeve songwriting that combines clever, introspective lyricism with undeniably catchy hooks. If “Crush,” the debut single Kramon released in May, introduced us to the flair for melodic pop charm, “Back Last Summer” pulls the curtain back even further, showing us a writer unafraid to get quiet, get honest, get a little lost in memory.