The MR PORTER team recommend their songs of the season.

After alcohol and misplaced optimism, the thing we associate most with summer is probably music. And a certain type of music, too. Summer music can be made by The Kinks and The Beach Boys. It can have the word “sun” in the title. But it doesn’t have to be so explicitly linked to the subject matter. It can be music tinged with an abstract sense of warmth, or nostalgia or just be really, really fun. Or it can simply be music that falls unmistakably into the particular genre of “absolute banger” – as millennials don’t say. Whatever it is, summer music soundtracks days in the park, or weekends on the beach, or the hours when you’re driving in a car on the way to the park or the beach. As such, it is feel-good music that stays with us, ever-associated with “good vibes” – as millennials don’t say. Below, we asked six MR PORTER staff members for the three tracks they’ll be playing most this summer. And here they all are, collated into a lovely Spotify playlist for your listening pleasure.

Listen to the MR PORTER summer playlist here

Chief Sub-Editor

I don’t plan on doing much this summer. OOO set, maybe sitting by a body of water, probably with a cool beverage within reach. So I’ve picked two rambling, drawn-out epics with few words (the opener to Mr Serge Gainsbourg’s 1971 classic Histoire de Melody Nelson and the closer to Ms Kelly Lee Owens’ sparse, shoe-gazy electronica album from last year) and a woozy, inebriated-sounding slab of Mr Kendrick Lamar sandwiched in the middle in the hope of a long, hot summer. And in the words of Mr Lamar, “I got my drink, I got my music…”

“Melody” – Mr Serge Gainsbourg

“Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” – Kendrick Lamar

“8”  – Kelly Lee Owens

Staff Writer, The Daily

Considering that in the past week my Spotify listening history has flitted between Childish Gambino, Depeche Mode, and – for better or worse – the Wicked soundtrack, choosing three songs is no easy task, not to mention a compromising insight into my psyche. But, if I had to pick three tunes to soundtrack my summer, they would be the following: The Cranberries’ “Dreams” and Kelis and André 3000’s “Millionaire”, both of which seem to get better with age, and Cameo’s “Candy”. If there’s a song that better captures the carefree optimism of a summer weekend, I haven’t heard it.

“Dreams” – The Cranberries

“Millionaire” – Kelis ft. André 3000

“Candy” – Cameo

Deputy Editor

This summer I will mostly be sitting next to water drinking alcoholic drinks. While I am next to the water in the day I will listen to Junior Murvin – he is like summer in a bottle. When I am getting ready to go out to sit by some different water for dinner I will listen to “Gold Dust Woman” because it contains the line, “rulers make bad lovers” which is a belter. When I return home late at night to relax by the pool before bed I will listen to a 1970s French disco-cum-dub track by Maya. Summer in three songs.

“Gold Dust Woman” – Fleetwood Mac

“Police and Thieves” –  Mr Junior Murvin ** “Lait De Coco (Dub)” – Maya**

Deputy Chief Sub-Editor

For most of the year, I like to think my music taste is pretty refined (don’t we all). But come summer all the underground rap and complicated funk get pushed out in favour of the decidedly basic. Because let’s face it, summer chart tunes are so damn fun. My current embarrassing obsession is the mums’ favourite, Mr George Ezra. I listen to his podcast (which is actually really good), get his newsletter in my inbox and cannot get the impossibly upbeat “Paradise” out of my head. Also on my summer playlist – suitable for any alfresco event, just add Aperol – are Cardi B’s Latin-trap “I Like It” and The Go! Team’s “Huddle Formation” – which has soundtracked my summers since I was about 12.

“Paradise” – Mr George Ezra

“I Like It” – Cardi B

“Huddle Formation” – The Go! Team

US Editor

I’ve been wearing out the entire new album from Beach House, and could have easily opted for any of the wonderfully fuzzy tracks that sound as if they were lifted from an unmade Sofia Coppola film. But I feel obligated to opt for this bit of audio breeze with a title we can all aspire to. The Allison Pierce track relates to a road trip I once embarked on (during summer, of course) in the American Southwest. I played her music non-stop. But summer is not an entirely happy, giddy time when the living is all easy. So, while I’m nursing my hothouse ennui – beneath a lazy ceiling fan in some darkened gin joint, let’s say – I want to be on Mr Cohen’s shruggie, languorous wave to, you know, wherever.

“Drunk In LA” – Beach House

“I Can See For Miles” – Ms Allison Pierce

“Traveling Light” – Mr Leonard Cohen

Associate Editor

On the second single from their fourth LP, Beyondless, Iceage ditch their trademark snarling, adolescent punk sound in favour of something with a little more swagger. Blaring trumpets, raunchy lyrics, backing vocals from pop siren Sky Ferreira… it’s nothing like their old stuff, but who cares? Next up: Anderson .Paak. “I’mma need all the fries you can gimme.” When this guy makes it, he doesn’t spend his money on iced-out watches. He buys out a chicken shop instead. It’s the sharp sense of humour running through the lyrics to his latest rags-to-riches anthem, “Bubblin’”, that keeps it from feeling crass. Finally – “Emerald Rush” by Mr Jon Hopkins. Where to start? This is a good track to play to anyone who thinks that the word “cerebral” should not be seen anywhere near the words “dance” and “music”. It’s colossal techno, hypnotic, richly textured – but it gets the basics right, too.

“Pain Killer” – Iceage ft. Sky Ferreira

“Bubblin’” – Anderson .Paak

“Emerald Rush” – Mr Jon Hopkins