Clemency

Summer Hymns. The name really says it all. Oppressive, humid heat and old-time religion -- those are the Georgia traditions that pervade the music by this Athens quartet. "Summer Hymns"'s songs ooze sincerity. Lyrically, Gresham weds the heartfelt with the surreal, painting earnest yet abstract images. Compositions often start as rudimentary folk songs -- maybe just a vocal melody or a lyric and a guitar chord or two -- and the band embellishes Gresham's ideas, adding lush instrumentation and direction to his loosely formed concepts.