Live Review: Eternal Summers @ Red Palace, 1/16/2011

As some of you may recall, I went to quite a few shows last year. I was pretty burnt out after all of that, so I took a few weeks off, mostly for the purposes of getting more sleep. But then, along came a show I realized would be pretty dang silly to miss. And so it was that I found myself at the newly-minted Red Palace (Palace of Wonders + The Red & The Black) for the buzzy Eternal Summers. And all was joyous and wonderful.

I'm beginning to think Roanoke, VA, might be a magical place, y'all. Every band I know of from there is dynamite. Eternal Summers is yet another offshoot of the Magic Twig Community, and features two of my favorite Young Sinclairs (Eternal Summers recently welcoming Sinclairs drummer John Thompson to the fold as bassist). After this set, I'm jumping firmly on the Eternal Summers bandwagon, and am hereby dubbing them my most favorite of the Roanoke & Rollers.

The set, as I had been alerted to beforehand, was peppered with new songs the band was trying out. "Prisoner," "Cog," "Pure Affection," and "Child's Mind" should be on the new Eternal Summers EP (due out Marchish), and there were a couple untitled jams to boot. Each and every song, new or not-so-new, was delectable. Their sound, which to me falls in some delightful ether between 80s synthpop and 60s psych revivalism, with a sprinkling of that trendy surf thing, translated ever so well to the Red Palace stage. Even with a bit of a sore throat, Nicole Yun's voice was adorably enchanting, and Daniel Cundiff's rapidfire, thoroughbred drumming was deliriously good. The addition of Thompson to the group added immeasurably, adding another level of awesome to the songs. When they launched into my favorite track from the Silver record, "Silver," I think I might have gotten a chill. They proved to be kicky, fizzy, and rather sassy up there on the stage, and as they played I got the feeling that I was seeing a rather special band.

And there you have it, dearest loves. Eternal Summers have my stamp of approval as one of the rootin'-est, tootin'-est, good time-est bands around. You will, without a shadow of a doubt, be infinitely happier once you've let Eternal Summers into your life.

mp3: Pogo (Eternal Summers from Silver)