California dreamin'

Nightmares - Silver Sunshine

"Nightmares" may be a perfect pop song. It's under three minutes (essential), boasts a fine verse, a killer chorus, engaging vocals and beautifully fleshed-out arrangements. Can you say harpsichord solo? Also, acoustic guitar and organ. Oh, and it may or may not involve a ghost.

I ran a quick Google and it seems San Diego-based Silver Sunshine gets compared to the Beatles an awful lot. Poor kids. What band with a strong melodic sense doesn't? I'd say Teenage Fanclub comes a lot closer. And while they're clearly in thrall to the music of the late 60s--many of Silver Sunshine's songs are by-the-history-book psychedelic fuzz n' drone-outs--I hear a whole lot of 60s California here. How about Love for starters? Maybe even The Byrds. Iron Butterfly was from San Diego. And as unhip as it is to bring up, there was that little SoCal organ-driven psych-rock act known as The Doors. Or you might want to compare the band to its neighbor 120 miles to the North, Summer At Shatter Creek, whose dreamy, haunted "Your Ever Changing Moods" came to mind the first time I heard "Nightmares."

She's The Reason - Silver Sunshine

Andmoreagain - Love

Your Ever Changing Moods - Summer At Shatter Creek

Buy:
Silver Sunshine - Silver Sunshine (US, UK)
A Small Pocket of Pure Spirit - Silver Sunshine (US, UK)
Forever Changes - Love (US, UK)
All The Answers - Summer At Shatter Creek (US, UK)