This content is copyright of CelebMix.com. As the season stretches into its golden haze, Montreal-based singer-songwriter Annabel Gutherz returns with a track that feels like summer bottled in sound. Her new single, "Summer's Here," is a gently shimmering offering, which feels warm and wistful, wrapped in breezy guitars, intimate vocals and lyrics that trace the contours of memory and impermanence. Recorded in a single live take, the song leans into rawness over perfection, capturing the fleeting emotional texture of a season we're always chasing. Following the success of her 2021 debut album Loose Ends, Annabel has been quietly but confidently carving out space as one of indie-pop's most emotionally articulate voices. Her work balances lyrical vulnerability with painterly production, and in "Summer's Here," that duality is on full display. We caught up with Annabel to talk about the making of the single, her evolving creative process and how she's learning to listen more deeply-to chords, to silence and to herself. Photo Credit: Chedly Bouzouaia First off, congratulations on being named to the Recording Academy's 2025 New Member Class - such a beautiful milestone. What does it mean to you personally and professionally to now be part of that constellation of artists? Thank you so much! I'm still pinching myself. Being welcomed into the Recording Academy's 2025 New Member Class feels like an affirmation-both of the path I've walked and the one I've yet to tread. Personally, it's a deeply meaningful milestone; I've looked up to so many of the artists and visionaries who make up the Academy, and to now be included among them is as humbling as it is inspiring... I'm giddy with gratitude. Professionally, it encourages me to continue creating from a place of authenticity while staying in service of community, craft, and the ever-evolving landscape of music. It's an invitation to contribute, not just create, and I look so forward to doing so! Let's talk about your new single-gorgeous, by the way; I've had it on repeat. You've called "Summer's Here" a "sonic postcard"-a keepsake of warmth, longing, and transience. Did that emotional duality come through early in the writing process or did it reveal itself as the song evolved? What do you hope listeners feel when they first hear it? Oh my goodness-thank you so much for listening (on repeat... that means the world to me), and for such a beautiful and thoughtful question. The emotional duality of "Summer's Here" was present from the very beginning. I've always felt that summer carries this subtle ache, like laughter that echoes into a quiet room, or golden light that fades before you can bottle it. I wanted the song to live in that space... to sound like a fleeting moment already becoming a memory. My hope is that when listeners hear it, they feel held in that tender balance between joy and wistfulness, celebration and surrender. Was the track born out of a specific memory, moment or feeling? We'd love to hear the story behind it. This track was born out of a feeling. I was reflecting on summer and summer love-and how these moments can feel both eternal and ephemeral-when I was struck by this ineffable blend of gratitude and melancholy. The melody came first, almost like it had been waiting to land. I followed it like a thread, and it led me here. I knew instinctively that this song was meant to be a sonic time capsule of that feeling. Recording in a single live take is a rare and vulnerable choice in today's pop landscape. Was that a deliberate choice from the outset? What made you commit to that approach and how do you think it shaped the emotional texture of the final version? It certainly wasn't a deliberate choice from the outset, but it became a conscious one after hearing it back. The band poured their instincts, feelings, and mastery into every note, and the result speaks to their expertise and artistry. I wanted the recording to feel like a breath-natural, human, and alive. There's something magical about tracks that arise whenever a song is interpreted for the first time; they carry emotion in ways a polished edit sometimes can't. That one-take approach allowed me to surrender to the moment and preserve its fragility, and I think that tenderness lingers in the final recording. I should note that I re-recorded my lead vocals because there was a little too much bleed from the other instruments in the room and added harmonies retroactively as well. There's a quiet tenderness in the production-a kind of breathing space, like the moment was guiding you. With your shift from lyric-first to chord-first writing, would you say your creative process is becoming more instinctual or spacious? How has that opened up new dimensions for you artistically? Absolutely! I think I'm learning to listen more-to the silence between the sounds, to my own instincts and to the music itself. Writing from chords first [approach] has opened a new emotional vocabulary for me... one that isn't te