After taking some time off after their 2015 album,
Gold and Stone, during which the members of
Eternal Summers spent time apart working on other musical pursuits, the trio returned in 2018 with one of their best records yet. For the most part eschewing the big, atmospheric sound of
Gold and Stone,
Every Day It Feels Like I'm Dying... instead fills the songs with horns, synths, and strings while wearing its French pop, dream pop, and soft rock influences proudly. It's a great-sounding record, arranged with care and full of gentle dynamic shifts. The band can move from the swooning pop of "Motionless" to the tender indie ballad "New Friend" with ease, and go from the slow-motion country-rock of "Master of It All" to the sophisticated jangle of "Dying to Know" like it was no big thing. The album displays a great deal of chameleonic skill while still revolving around the core of
Nicole Yun's gentle vocals, her sparsely nimble guitar playing, and the rhythm section's light touch. They can tiptoe lightly one moment and explode into rumbling noise the next, in each instance sounding like it's what they do best. They grind through the '90s slacker grunge-lite of "Oblivious" like they were actually old enough to hear
Mudhoney the first time around, sweep through the airy indie pop of "Forever Mine" like they had a treasured stash of
Lilac Time LPs as youths, and when drummer Daniel Cundiff gets a chance to do a song, he delivers an off-kilter electro-folk-pop tune that sneaks away with the honor of being one of the record's best tracks. The whole thing works like a dream, and if the bandmembers need to take time off from one another to make music this thoughtful, tender, and memorable, they should move to different cities, lose each other's numbers, or do whatever it takes. Fans of the band and of really good indie pop will thank them if they do. ~ Tim Sendra