In his latest EP, “Summer Sessions,” Ben Penna whisks us away to the sun-soaked landscapes of Townsville, Australia, radiating the pure essence of a quintessential Australian summer.
Emerging from a well-deserved hiatus, Penna returns with an exhilarating burst of energy, delivering an intimate acoustic-driven masterpiece that paints a vivid portrait of the season and the vibrant characters who seek solace within its warm embrace.
Penna takes us on a journey through the very fabric of “Summer Sessions,” unraveling the stories woven into each of its seven tracks.
“Life” captures his love for both surfing and traveling, a concoction of experiences that found their way into his songwriting while riding the waves of Agnes Water. “Fairytale” emerges as a breakup anthem with a twist of positivity, a heartfelt realization that liberation lies in prioritizing self-worth.
With unwavering generosity, he graciously invites us into his creative realm, sharing the profound inspiration behind his soul-stirring melodies and evocative lyrics.
Summer Sessions Breakdown of Songs
Life: The song ‘Life’ was summarised by my son as me taking into account everything that I love doing in life, like surfing and traveling and living and putting it into a song. The majority of the lyrics were written in my head while I was surfing down at Agnes Water when we were on a gigging/surfing holiday last year.
Yes, the lyrics are predominantly about surfing but I see it as a metaphor for life and living and loving life. You gotta love this life…
Fairytale: This is a breakup song – that point in life where you’ve been in a relationship and realise you are there for them and not for you. But not all break up songs have to be sad – so this particular break up song has a happy positive vibe to it. There is also a non-radio friendly version of the song on Triple J Unearthed.
Found: Found is most definitely a love song, based around the concept that you can find your person – your soulmate – when you least expect to find them and more importantly when you’re not even looking for them – they just appear in your life and your life changes completely and you’re just so damn glad you found them and they found you!
Get High: This song was written many, many years ago and was written on a surfing trip along the East Coast – this one was written at Noosa and although it mentions ‘getting high’ it’s actually referring more toward getting high on life and enjoying life and not worrying about what other people think of you or expect you to be doing or living.
Enough: Another love song – sometimes in relationships people can feel like they aren’t enough because the partner forgets to find the words to let them know how much they mean to them or life gets in the way and you forget to make your partner a priority every day.
This love song song is about highlighting how your person is ‘more than enough’ even when they doubt themselves and how the right person is all you really need in life and you need to make that relationship a priority.
It’s about being there for each other and finding moments to make each other special. And to kiss each other with passion. Everyday. You should also dance in the kitchen when you’re cooking dinner together – not that the song mentions that – but that’s what you should do!
Fool: Just a fun little bluesy song about being a fool during a fool moon – it mentions witches and warlocks and skinny dipping in the ocean – it’s just a fun upbeat song – really just about living life and enjoying the magic that life offers.
Moment: sometimes in life people give too much attention to materialistic things rather than people and loved ones.
This song is about being there for your person, friend, lover, someone that needs you – just to be there for them, to listen, to just sit with them silently while they battle their demons.
It’s about realising that the human connection is more important than the latest piece of technology or latest viral trend.
Listen to the full album here.
