Lost Balloons - Hey Summer (2017)

Texas and Japan team up for a trans-pacific, two-man summertime pop explosion! Lost Balloons are Jeff Burke (Radioactivity, Marked Men, etc.) and Yusuke Okada of Japan's incredible Suspicious Beasts. Hey Summer is their second album, following 2015's self titled debut on Germany's Alien Snatch Records. The two play all the instruments (although there is a live lineup as well) and split singing / songwriting duties. It works fantastically well as an album, meant to be listened to from start-to-finish. Wistful, sun-shiny '60s-inspired pop with a bit of '80s college rock jangle and even a little modern garage / Americana twang, this album represents a pretty big departure from a normal Jeff Burke project (and although it's sonically a little closer to Okada's Suspicious Beasts, it veers farther afield of his normal songwriting comfort zone as well). Burke says that this album is probably the least ''punk'' record he's ever done. It confirms what everyone has long suspected: these two can master any genre they tackle, and make it fully their own.