London based singer-songwriter, Ned Roberts, has three studio records to his name –Ned Roberts (2014), Outside My Mind (2017) and Dream Sweetheart (2020)- and has featured frequently on BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Scotland. His bittersweet songs sit comfortably among the classics of the Laurel Canyon era, with a timeless quality and a poetic turn of phrase. With shows across Europe and America, live highlights include a tour with celebrated songwriter Anais Mitchell, plus support slots for Joe Pug, Micah P. Hinson, Those Pretty Wrongs, and Sarabeth Tucek amongst others. Two of his critically acclaimed albums were out for the Aveline label (home to Ani Di Franco), and he has a decade long creative partnership with renowned US producer and songwriter Luther Russell (Sarabeth Tucek, Fabiano do Nascimento). Ned has just released his fourth studio album, Heavy Summer. Teaming up again with producer Luther Russell, and sound engineer Jason Hiller, the record was cut and mixed in 6 days in the late LA summer heat. Recorded mostly live to a vintage 8-track tape machine, Luther (keys, mellotron, guitars, drums) and Jason (bass) doubled as an expert band. Heavy Summer showcases both sides of Ned’s creative output, with gorgeously constructed band takes, recorded during the heat of the day, and intimate acoustic numbers, recorded just as night drew in. Throughout, there is a sense of searching, of something just beyond reach. “Days into days / a uniform parade / Run ‘cross the fields / is salvation on the way? / To ease the sense of time / Go steady on the wine / I’m young and I’m old / I’m living and I’m dying.’ Solo acoustic closer, The Breakers, with Sarabeth Tucek on backing vocals, brings the record to a meditative end.

What Ned Says: “The lyrics to this song were written very instinctively, verse after verse, as kind of catharsis. I think it captures a moment of crisis, a crossroads, but listening now I hear the hope in it too. It came alive in the studio, and this was an early take when we were reacting intuitively to the song. This video was filmed and edited by my sister Florence Roberts, who smashed it!“

“Play My Card was written during the sessions for Heavy Summer, based around a fingerpicking riff I’d been carrying around for years. I wanted to capture something of my first single Red Sun, an insistent fingerpicked rhythm in open tuning. Lyrically, it also encapsulates a lot of the record, of being caught between two impulses, action and inaction, childhood and adulthood, of finding a way out of old patterns. I like that it finishes on a hopeful note. The recording we captured was the first take, and the first time I had played the song through in its entirety.“

His Mixtape:

Bob Dylan – Don’t Think Twice

Dylan is the reason I do what I do. This is an early Bob classic and one of the first tunes I learnt when I picked up the guitar aged 17. I was already well versed in early Dylan when my dad bought me Freewheelin’, Times they are a-changing, and Another Side of. The singing and fingerpicking are held in such expressive balance that amazes me everyt time I hear it. I recorded a dorm room cover of this for YouTube many years ago. This was the video that Luther randomly saw one day, prompting a message out of blue. 14 years later we’ve made 4 records.

Ravel – Une barque sur l’océan

My dad is concert pianist, and specialises in French Impressionism such as Ravel and Debussy. I grew up listening to this music so it’s a deeply embedded language. I would often hear him practicing as I went to sleep. This is a particularly beautiful piece. The title means, a Boat on the Sea, which I only now realise is an image I use in my new song Losing Sight – ‘In the eye of it all / There’s a rag torn sail’

Bill Fay – I Hear You Calling

I discovered this Bill Fay record (Time of the Last Persecution) on a long drive from LA to Portland after recording my second record Outside my Mind. Luther, Sarabeth and I were on the way to hear my dad play a concert. It’s since become one of my very favourite records, full of obscure intense musings on the second coming, dusty rooms, and the end times – and also beautiful melodies like this one. It was supposedly recorded in one day.

Steve Hiett – Down on the Road by the Beach

This whole record is a real wonder. I can’t remember where I first came across it. It seems like a strange mashup of Twin Peaks and the Beach Boys. Listen to it in full and definitely get it on vinyl.

Miquela – Palunaia

I love browsing record stores and this selection is a reflection of that. Since childhood I’ve spent a lot of time in the south of France where my parents run a piano summer course. You often see the road signs translated into Occitan, a language specific to that region. I stumbled across this record by chance, but picked it up as I saw it was sung in Occitan. Turns out I got lucky, it’s a wonderful chamber folk record with surprising twists and turns.

Mina – il cielo in una stanza

This mixtape needs something new, or least new to me. I heard this on the new series of Ripley on Netflix and it really stuck with me. A wonderful Italian pop song from the 60s that I’ve completely fallen for.

Heavy Summer is out now. Look HERE for more information on Ned Roberts.