Twenty-three year old Australian artist Tim Bettison sings beyond his age. Having recently announced his incredible sophomore album as Vancouver Sleep Clinic, he has today shares the second single from the record: “Summer 09″. Flexing all his ambient muscles, Bettison fills the track with a simultaneous sense of beauty and heartbreak, taking the listener through the emotional journey of losing a dear friend.

Speaking on the song, Bettison said: “At the end of 2017, I got the call that one of my closest friends had died completely out of the blue. We had grown up inseparable; always playing sport and music together all the way to playing on stage together with me for the first Vancouver Sleep Clinic shows. My world was flipped upside down and it took days to think properly and months before I could even stomach the idea of writing again.”

He continues: “It wasn’t until a year later, when I was in Bali with my friends and it was raining outside. My friend Luke started playing these chords on his guitar, and everything that had been bottled up inside of me since my friend passed suddenly flooded onto the page. That song became “Summer ‘09,” my way to forever immortalize our special connection and those memories from our youth. “Summer ‘09” has been with me everywhere since–in my headphones, in the car, in the park, in my room, and anywhere there is a guitar. Now the time has come for it to be in the world. Although it is difficult for me to let go of it, it gives me peace to know that something that was a source of healing & refuge for me for so long can now be yours, too.”

Listen to the song below.