Listen: "Gold Silver Diamond" by Generationals

I've been on a Portugal. The Man binge lately and Spotify recommended New Orleans indie-rock duo Generationals to me a few days ago. Their catalog is actually a bit uneven, but their latest single, "Gold Silver Diamond" sounds promising.

It's a perfect song for the end of summer: syrupy sweet, with a crisp rhythm and just a hint of melancholia to sharpen the taste. The barely-there bass and drums won't make you dance, exactly, but your butt will twitch back and forth a bit. Their main purpose is to give that dreamy, ice-cream synth space to soar in. The result is an addictive mix of swooning and grooving. This flavor of bittersweet dream-pop is hard to pull of properly; wander off too far into either direction and you've turned into either formless shoegazing or another weak MGMT clone. Generationals had trouble straddling this line before, but if this single is any indication, the new album (Alix, produced by Richard Swift of The Shins, due out September 16th) should be a big leap for them.