Song of the Day: Eternal Summers - Together or Alone

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Together or Alone” by Eternal Summers from the 2015 album Gold And Stone on Kanine Records.

Eternal Summers - Together or Alone (MP3)

First a duo, now a trio, Eternal Summers make lush music that sounds much more than a sum of its parts. The Virginia band, consisting of Nicole Yun, Daniel Cundiff and Jonathan Woods, adds more complexity, though shimmering guitars and airy vocals, than simple beach pop. On their newest release, Gold and Stone, punk snarls, both instrumentally and vocally, counterpoint Yun's sing-songy voice, unwinding within the dreamiest melodies. As layers of shoegaze and jangle pop mix coherently with rock riffs and nostalgic chord tones, the band's music epitomizes an eternal summer, but it is one that has its storms as well as its sunshine, exemplified in today's featured song, "Together or Alone". Undertones of punk belie opulent guitar textures and airy vocals as the sonic tension clashes melancholy daydreams with frustrated heartbreak, eventually building to a breaking point as Yun shouts "On with it all", begging life to progress. While the group's namesake is a stagnant season capturing the effects and damages of time's advance both sonically and lyrically, "Together or Alone" will have you wishing for it to never end.

Eternal Summers were recently in Seattle but return again very soon, playing Barboza on July 13th. You can get tickets and more information about that 21+ show here. In the meantime, keep up with the band on their website and Facebook page, and check out today's featured song as performed live in the KEXP studio: