Peter Salett is back with his most ambitious work yet, a double album called ‘Suite for the Summer Rain / Dance of the Yellow Leaf,’ dropping July 11.

You might remember him from the early 2000s when his song ‘Heart of Mine’ caught attention in ‘Keeping the Faith.’ Since then, he’s been a quiet but steady presence in New York’s downtown scene, weaving his songs through films like ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ and ‘Down in the Valley’.

Salett started piecing together ‘Suite for the Summer Rain’ a decade ago after moving back to Brooklyn from LA, and its companion album ‘Dance of the Yellow Leaf ‘ followed a few years later. Together they form a thoughtful, immersive journey blending folk warmth and cinematic strings.

His latest single ‘Suddenly the Leaves,’ out May 28, feels like stepping into a soft moment between seasons. The song unfolds gently around Salett’s tender voice and fingerpicked guitar, before a sweep of strings lifts it into something almost classical. There’s something timeless about the way he tells stories in song—think Simon & Garfunkel or Labi Siffre—where it’s less about big gestures and more about quietly capturing the feeling of change and passing time.

Salett on the track, “The line “suddenly the leaves are on the ground / no one seemed to see them coming down” came to me as I rounded the corner coming home one day, and it was as if the season had snuck up on me and I was somehow, suddenly, in a different place. I also sing about “holding on to beauty as it burns/ so bright” and the knowledge that despite our best efforts time will keep moving, both giving us distance from emotional scars but also that whatever we love in the moment is ephemeral. This was the first song I wrote for what became Dance of the Yellow Leaf.”

Headline photo: Bernie DeChant

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