Leo Sun, 'When You Wake Up'

If summers are made for stories of fleeting love, "When You Wake Up" — the delightfully languid debut of Jacksonville, Fla.-based indie artist Matilda Phan, aka Leo Sun — is a commentary on the resilience needed to soak it all in, the good and the bad. "I don't think I could have tried it any harder / It breaks my heart that we couldn't have gone any farther," Phan casually flutters over an onshore breeze of pedal steel guitar and a late-afternoon shower of auxiliary percussion. Rather than tackling evanescent romance, Phan gently embraces it with steely resolve, encouraging their love interest to "Check if your heart's had enough when you wake up." In so doing, they've reimagined the summer jam for the emotionally intelligent.

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Matthew Shaw
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