Eternal Summers, Bleeding Rainbow & Zebra Hunt at the Sunset Tavern, Seattle | 8 September 2012
Someone yelled out in between songs of Eternal Summers set Saturday at the Sunset, “I just want to move to Roanoke!” Nicole Yun deadpanned back, “Be careful what you wish for.” Yun and her band Eternal Summers are from Roanoke, Virginia, so it wasn’t exactly encouragement. Even so I can see the potential attraction. These days southern Virgina is dotted with attention deserving bands like White Laces, Super Vacations, Young Sinclairs and Wild Nothing, but Eternal Summers are my favorite. The bounty in the South right now reminds me of late 80’s when there was a highway of great pop from Mitch Easter‘s Drive-in studio in North Carolina all the way down to REM‘s hometown of Athens, Georgia.
Eternal Summers second album Correct Behavior deftly combines the sweet pop of Belly, moodiness of the Cure, attitude of Smashing Pumpkins and the angular bounce of Pylon. Behavior is a huge leap forward from their debut Silver in both songwriting and production. It’s one of the year’s best records and the trio ably put on a show to rival the record.
Now officially a trio, which according to Mr. Robert Forster (I am in accordance with and Eternal Summers prove), the purest form of rock and roll expression. They ripped through an hour long set that did not have a single let down. Millions, You Kill, I Love You, Prisoner, Wonder and Disappear all delivered the goods. Drummer Daniel Cundiff even snuck in his ace Girls In the City. Yun’s singing easily rivaled the squall created by the band and she is also no slouch on guitar either. Many of her leads sounded like there were two guitarists. My only complaint about the show was how sparsely attended it was especially for a Saturday night. Has word not gotten out about how great this band is, or has everyone moved to Roanoke?
mp3: Eternal Summers – You Kill (from Correct Behavior on Kanine)
Eternal Summers are on tour with Philadelphia’s Bleeding Rainbow (né Reading Rainbow). Previously a duo they’ve expanded to a four piece and kind of reinvented their sound. I like the new direction, it combines the 60’s Topanga Canyon with effects laden guitars similar to territory that the Telescopes were exploring in shoegaze heyday of the early 90’s. Look for a new album from them early next year on Kanine.
stream: Bleeding Rainbow – Pink Ruff
Seattle’s own Zebra Hunt opened the show. Their Dunedin sound by way of Ballard, which I can’t get enough of at the moment, sounded great. They played all three songs from their darling bandcamp EP and threw in a very appropriate cover of the Clean‘s Oddity. Like I needed another reason to like these guys.
the finest kiss 
I so want to like them live but the two times I’ve seen them Nicole was painfully horse and outta tune. Speaking of Outta Tune, just saw Niel Halstead do a solo show where he did a number of old Mojave 3 songs from out of tune and Exuse for Travelers, but he did best with his new stuff. I guess the Mojave 3 is bestlayed with a full band. Hope all is well.
Know what you mean. Catching a band on a bad night is a bummer. Being an eternal optimist helps. I’ve had similar experience with Ringo Deathstarr. Still a fan of the records which keeps me going to their shows.