Calendar Days

Bryce Avary released this, his first full-length album under the name The Rocket Summer, in 2003 when he was twenty years old. He wrote all the songs and played all the instruments, and the whole thing is an absolutely exhilarating, headlong blast of intensely melodic guitar pop. The hooks start coming on the very first song, “Cross My Heart,” and they continue coming at you so fast and piling up so quickly that you’ll find yourself just sitting back and letting them wash over you. Avary’s voice is maybe just a little bit precious, high and childlike and just a bit too sweet. But his singing ultimately proves irresistible; his lyrics are so open-hearted and genuine, his way with a melody so precociously assured, and his sense of song structure so solid that, by the fourth track, you’re ready to forgive him anything. When he sings “I can’t stop thinking of how wonderful this is,” you’ll almost certainly be singing it along with him.