New Audio: Montréal’s Ormiston Shares Breezy and Hook-Driven “Bittersweet Summertime”

Nicola Ormiston is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Ormiston. Since the release of his full-length debut Hammer Down, album single “Distortion of Reality” premiered on David Dean Burkhart’s YouTube Channel and amassed over 920,000 views and “Time Fades” appeared in Meet Cute, which starred Pete Davidson.

Ormiston’s sophomore album Highway Restaurant reportedly sees him continuing the psychedelic and dream pop influenced sound that has won him attention but with electronic and disco nods. And much like its predecessor, the new album will likely draw comparisons to Toro Y Moi, Men I Trust, MUNYA, MGMT, and others.

Inspired by an eye-opening, several week trip to Los Angeles, Highway Restaurant‘s material reportedly evokes late-night drives through the fanciest and the most neglected parts of urban centers. Witnessing Los Angeles’ “high amount of glamour and money” alongside poverty and homelessness reminded him that, when you look at some of the most beautiful things, morbid and ugly streaks often lie just under the surface. As a result, the material constantly makes contrasts between the beautiful and the ugly, the joyful and the bleak.

Highway Restaurant‘s latest single, the mid tempo strut “Bittersweet Summertime” continues a remarkable run of breezy, funky and hook-driven pop built around glistening synths, Nile Rodgers-inspired funk guitar and a sinuous bass line paired with the Montréal-based artist’s dreamy delivery. And while seemingly channeling the breezy and funky bops of JOVM mainstays MUNYA and Kainalu, “Bittersweet Summertime” is a bubble-bursting tell-off to someone who seems vain, delusional — and perhaps a bit narcissistic.