[listen up] Dream Hits, "Dead;" July 21 @ Middle East Upstairs

With contagious hooks and hauntingly sweet '60s-girl-group vocals, it’d be easy to tag local up-and-comers DREAM HITS as just another beach-pop act fighting for towel space in the sand. But in reality, the duo from Emerson College brings some much needed hi-fi grit to a typically fuzzy, sun-soaked scene.

At first, their track “Dead” sounds like a bubblegum ballad fit for a tandem-bike ride down the boardwalk – but that breezy bliss is paired with some deadpan, morbid lyrics (“I listen to the static on the TV set/I close my eyes and all the world drops dead”) to produce a unique sonic contrast and one hell of a midsummer jam. The real heat comes about two minutes in, as the melody dissolves into 50 seconds of pure guitar-noise that could easily soundtrack a post-punk daydream. Listen in:

Dream Hits will be hanging out at The Middle East Upstairs on July 21 with a bunch of Boston-ish indie bands: fellow Emersonians ROYAL BLOOD, South-Shore rock n’ rollers WAR PRESEIDENTS, and Noho’s alt-pop heroes BUNNY’S A SWINE.  It's a stacked summer lineup.

Patrick McDermott is the Boston Phoenix's summer web intern. Say hello to him at the Dream Hits show, and thank him for exposing you to awesome shit.