Eternal Summers
Silver
(Kanine Records)

Virginia duo Eternal Summers call themselves “dream punk.” Upon listening to their debut full-length Silver I came to realize what that meant. In a nutshell, it’s punk, but with wispier vocals and less aggression that borders on pop.

Lead-off track “ Disciplinarian” is the perfect example of their sound. Barely two minutes long, its jumpy, propulsive rhythm carries hook-laden melodic vocals with just a hint of melancholy. The same could be said for follow-up “I Know Now,” though songs like “Pogo” help keep the mood lively.

Halfway through the album, the sound leans much more toward dream pop, but that’s not to insinuate any shoegazer tendencies (a common, redundant pitfall these days). The songs are a bit dreamier overall, with softer guitars and heavenly vocals, but the title track is a late album highpoint with its rolling drums and reverberant wordless vocal hook.

Singer/guitarist Nicole Yun and Daniel Cundiff have a good thing going here. It’s all in the spirit of punk, but whether it’s more pop than punk or punk than pop is your call. Either way, they’ve provided us with some damn fine three-minute gems, so who cares about all that other stuff.