“I never intended to be such a control freak-y solo artist who did it all myself for all eternity. I had no other means when I first started out, and I was kind of shy and protective and did it all at home…”

Stephanie Crase aka Summer Flake dropped by Friday Arvos for a chat with Sweetie and Shag about her second album Hello Friends – just featured as FBi’s album of the week.

Bringing a whole lot of melancholic goodness teamed with twangy guitar and stunning vocals, Hello Friends saw Stephanie expand her Summer Flake project to include a full band, with whom she’s been touring venues around the country.

On the influences of the album and her writing process, Stephanie explained:

“When I’m writing I try not to think about other artists, really, and often when I record – it’s kind of embarrassing – but I listen to podcasts and things to shut out everything. Because when I hear other things, I want to grab this, that and the other, but I feel like I’m in a bit of a bubble with me when I’m writing.

I think it’s the techniques of how we put it down and how we play it. We are definitely inspired by the stuff I listened to when I was growing up, like Elliott Smith and that kind of whispery double track, triple track, guitars and vocals.”

Listen to the full interview and Stephanie’s live acoustic version of ‘Wine Won’t Wash Away’ above. It’s one of the sillier tracks on the record, according to the songwriter:

“This is one of the few songs that started from a story of an event, just like a silly weekend… it was a new year’s eve that went pear-shaped, and it’s a song that came out of that.”