Eavening

I suppose I wouldn't be doing justice to summertime without some songs that namecheck it explicitly. There's really no logic to why certain bands make it and others don't. The Eaves (I'm assuming they broke up) were also-rans in the battle of backward-looking New York bands of the early '00s. It's fairly obvious that they had lots of dream pop records in their collections and didn't do too much to tweak the influence once they bought pedals of their own. So what? Competence is more and more a virtue to these ears. I like that the singer's voice is dreamy but rooted. And I like that this song reminds me of summertime walks home from the bar back in those early 'aughts.

The Eaves - Summer Gold

Shaking the twee

Started the week with a soundalike; may as well end it with one too. I was vaguely into this group in 9th grade and forgot about them pretty quickly. I heard their debut again a couple years ago, and this track got deep in my ear. If the Smiths were from Hershey, PA and born a few years later, they would've recorded this. Can you imagine the kind of abuse these guys must've taken from the high school football team?

The Ocean Blue - Vanity Fair