Summer Sun by Yo La Tengo

Summer Sun, Yo La Tengo's tenth studio album, came out on Matador on April 8, 2003, and for a record with that title it's remarkably nocturnal. The Hoboken trio of Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew, a lineup unchanged since 1992, cut it in Nashville with Roger Moutenot producing and mixed it at Shelter Island in New York. The sessions began in the shadow of loss: Hubley's mother, Faith Hubley, had died just before work got underway, and the family piano was moved into the band's Jersey City rehearsal space, where it became the heart of the album's sound.

So the songs glow rather than blaze, hushed pop tunes drifting between instrumentals and one long, patient jam, "Let's Be Still", that lives up to its name. Even the cover plays against type: a double-exposed shot from a New Jersey parking lot with the band bundled up in winter coats. "Today Is The Day" is the song that made the countdowns.

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