Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Consumer Guide	A
Entertainment Weekly	B
The Guardian
Mojo
NME	8/10
Pitchfork Media	6.0/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin	B

Summer Sun is the tenth studio album by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released on April 8, 2003 by record label Matador.

Summer Sun was recorded in Nashville, United States. The album was mixed at Shelter Island in New York.

Georgia Hubley's mother, Faith Hubley, died right before the band started working on the album. The Hubley family piano went into Yo La Tengo's practice space in Jersey City, and became the center piece for the sound of the album.

On the album's style, The A.V. Club reviewer Keith Phipps notes that "Summer Sun finds Yo La Tengo in a twilight mood, interspersing instrumentals and one elongated jam (the tellingly titled 'Let's Be Still') between atmospheric, quietly ingratiating pop songs."

The album is a double exposure shot taken in a New Jersey parking lot.

Despite the title of the album, the cover shows the band wearing Winter coats. When asked about this odd juxtaposition, guitarist Ira Kaplan said: "We really need to get together with the Matador art department about that. We submitted eight rolls of film containing one shot after another of us in bathing suits. At the end of the session, the photographer requested one shot of us in our winter coats, "for his personal collection" we were assured. Imagine our dismay when the album came out."

Summer Sun has received a favorable reception from critics, though with several reviewers seeing it as a natural come-down from the heights of their previous records. It currently holds an approval rating of 77 out of 100 on review aggregator website Metacritic.

Mojo called the album "A set of busy beautiful whispers; 62 minutes of exquisite suspended animation"Alternative Press called it Yo La Tengo's "most challenging album to date".Uncut wrote, "From the edge of the sea, back to the fringes of sleep, Summer Sun is uncommonly lovely".

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Wikipedia