Ian McFarland Releases Debut EP SUMMER RAIN, to Play Sour Mouse
The four-song EP was developed with bandmates including Jared Pease and features tracks about life in New York City.
Brooklyn-based indie punk musician Ian McFarland writes about his life and experiences in New York City as an artist. Earlier this summer McFarland released singles, 'Coffee Shops and Modern Rock,' written about his experience as the creator and host of 'Sunday Scaries', a recurring event on the Lower East Side that has become a gathering place for New York's indie music community, and the emo-tinged indie rock anthem 'Leaving New York.'
McFarland has announced his debut EP, Summer Rain, highlighting two new singles, 'If the Sun Never Came Up Again,' and 'The Booming Business of Missed Opportunities and Heartaches,' all out August 28, 2026.
Summer Rain is a four-song EP written by Ian McFarland and developed in close collaboration with his bandmates Jared Pease and Rijk van Zanten. The record pairs two previously unreleased songs with the singles 'Coffee Shops and Modern Rock' and 'Leaving New York,' capturing the chemistry of a band that spent a year and a half gelling during an every-other-week residency at Baker Falls in Manhattan. Those recurring shows allowed the trio to develop into something that comes only from playing together night after night for hours on end.
'If the Sun Never Came Up Again' is an angsty, high-energy rock song telling the story of a lost girl, accompanied by a visual animation, while 'The Booming Business of Missed Opportunities and Heartaches' captures McFarland's nostalgia-tinged pop-punk sensibilities and impressive vocal range.
'I made this EP with a group of friends who somehow keep saying yes to every ridiculous idea I have,' McFarland shares. 'We hauled amps up a Midtown skyscraper, played from midnight to three in the morning for a scavenger hunt, and loaded gear through Snowmageddon and summer rain. The songs ended up being about change, missed opportunities, and trying to recognize yourself while your life keeps shifting around you.'
Across Summer Rain, McFarland writes about shifting identity, missed opportunities, and the difficulty of remaining an artist in a city that increasingly feels hostile to the people responsible for its cultural identity.
'The contradiction of loving a city while wondering whether it still has room for people like you, along with several upheavals in my personal life, shaped much of the writing on Summer Rain,' McFarland says.
'If the Sun Never Came Up Again,' 'The Booming Business of Missed Opportunities and Heartaches,' and Summer Rain by Ian McFarland are out August 28, 2026.
Summer Rain Tracklisting
1. 'The Booming Business of Missed Opportunities and Heartaches'
2. 'If the Sun Never Came Up Again'
3. 'Coffee Shops and Modern Rock'
4. 'Leaving New York'
Live Dates
8/29 - New York, NY - Sour Mouse
9/13 - New York, NY - Sunday Scaries at Berlin Under A
9/27 - New York, NY - Sunday Scaries at Berlin Under A
10/4 - New York, NY - Sunday Scaries at Berlin Under A
Ian McFarland is a Brooklyn-based indie songwriter originally from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, whose music explores the tension between connection and isolation in modern city life. Blending soaring guitars, earnest lyricism, and conversational storytelling, his songs draw equally from early 2000s alternative rock and modern indie, pairing anthemic hooks with deeply personal lyrics.
Recent releases have earned editorial support from Spotify (New in Punk, Today's Punk) and Apple Music (New in Rock, New in Alternative), charted on the top 200 NACC college radio, and received airplay across North America. Beyond his recording career, McFarland is the creator and host of Sunday Scaries, a recurring live-band karaoke residency in Manhattan that has become a gathering place for New York's independent music community. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, he continues to build a growing audience through energetic live performances and songs that find hope, humor, and nostalgia amid life's transitions.
Photo Credit: Andrew Einhorn
Photo Credit: Andrew Einhorn
