Winter gives way to Spring on the Vernal Equinox – March 20th – and LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS are taking the opportunity to let you know that they “Can't Wait 'Till Summer” with a new single and a wonderful brand new video by that title, seeing release on the first day of Spring! The single is up for pre-order at bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com now, with the video premiering and the track streaming everywhere worldwide on the release date. It's the latest track from the Akron, OH-based band's album HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES to see standalone release, and a perfect celebration of the turning of the seasons.

There are two things Ohioans joke about their home state. One is that the orange highway barrel is the state flower. The other is that if you don’t like the weather in Ohio, wait ten minutes (or less). It’s a combination of the unpredictable weather forecasts and wanting to rekindle a summer romance that is the basis for LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS' latest single, “Can’t Wait ‘Till Summer”, and the strikingly autumnal video that accompanies it, bringing (almost) all four seasons together in one clip. Filmed on an iPhone one bright fall afternoon, the band used the backdrop of falling leaves (and the next door neighbors peering out their kitchen windows wondering what the hell is going on) to lip-sync to this sugary pop confection, filled with jangly pop goodness that is guaranteed to give you a head rush that will have you running around like Maria Bamford in those Target ads. If you can’t wait ‘till summer either, cue up this track and dance like no one’s looking, even if you’re at work (wait ‘till you’re clocked out for break, though)!

HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES has garnered plenty of acclaim as an album since its 2022 release, and it's already provided a bounty of singles, with “Summer” standing as no less than the fifth. And it's a natural successor to the likes of prior hits like like “Ghost Singer” and “I Better Get Home”, as critics worldwide have already noted! From the UK's Bliss Aquamarine (“bright, sunny and perfectly named”) and Colours Through The Air (“highly melodic and anthemic”) and Spain's El Giradiscos, who write “if you have to sing upbeat songs, it doesn't matter that it seems that there are clouds over the beaches” to sources closer to home, “Summer” has seemed to speak to everyone. Musoscribe's Bill Kopp say it “has the feel of prime Beach Boys, if the southern California heroes had backing by, say, the Smithereens,” Boston's Metronome Magazine cites its “pronounced Kinks feel” and David Bash singles it out as “a particular standout” on the album.

The terrific blog Whisperin' and Hollering gets the last word here: “High keening vocals with lyrics that are quite the teenage love story, as they are waiting to see a girl they only see during the summer holidays, as they hope things will still have the same magic, as they wait for the love letters to arrive... this has an innocence to it as well, as sparkling guitars with of course plenty of handclaps.” Still going strong since its October release, HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES has shown LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS to be a band for all seasons as “Summer” arrives early this Spring. Find the album out now at your local record store and everywhere music is sold or streamed, from Big Stir Records:
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