Unlike other seasons, summer seems to be the only time of the year that has directly inspired an entire movement of music. Summertime music is completely inoffensive, soft-spoken, and expects little of the listener. It’s easily likeable, as it associates itself with bohemian beach busking and bikini babes swooning over acoustic mysticism. After all, there is a veil of wisdom that comes with summertime music. The people that play such comforting music have obviously figured out how to deal with the more trivial parts of life.This is the exact impression that Jon & Roy imparts with their latest full-length record, Homes. The Victoria-based band, formulated around founding members Jon Middleton and Roy Vizer, fleshes out their sound with the addition of Dougal Bain Maclean and Ryan Tonelli to provide fourteen tracks of sunshine and surf to soundtrack your summer road trip. For the most part, the acoustic sheen that underlines Homes exemplify the most relaxed mid-August Sunday afternoons, while Middleton’s cautious and tender vocals epitomize the ‘hazy-day’ aesthetics embraced by the late summer months. The soft arpeggios and articulate bongos that support the album’s opening track, “Any Day Now”, immediately characterize Jon & Roy’s unpretentious positivity. Although at times Jon & Roy slightly deviate from this mentality, as they do on the record’s best track “Get Myself a Gun”, the quartet refrains from tugging the heartstrings with self-indulgent mope-folk.Unfortunately, despite it’s generally uplifting spirit, Homes suffers from the fundamental flaw of summertime music: it is inappropriate and out of place for the other seventy-five percent of the year. While the first three tracks of the record emit a wonderfully heavy folk influence (so much fiddle and harmonica!) many of the remaining tracks are entirely forgettable and uninspiring bro-rock. For example, “Cuban B” typifies this uninteresting genre by hinging on an invariable surf-guitar line that carries a mumbled, fragmented vocal melody, while “Brooker’s Song” recycles a pseudo-rap vocal, a la Beck’s “Loser”, overtop of unchanging bass and drums. While on the surface, the monotonous nature of these tracks is perfect for hookah-and-brew nights with the fellas, they satisfy little outside of their intended realm of consumption.It is unfortunate that the boys of Jon & Roy are such happy, life-affirming people. Middleton’s voice could easily support a painfully brooding folk record, making it seem as though the band is resisting a natural progression that could make them much more relevant. For the time being, however, Jon & Roy are positioned to associate themselves with the post-exam relief and summertime gatherings that college kids undoubtedly look forward to from September through April.Words: Jamie Cessford