Neo 60’s folk/rock doesn’t get much better than this. Glistening harmonies, deliciously jangly guitars and tightly constructed songs make Summer of a Thousand Years the genuine article in a crowded field of power pop wannabes.  Grip Weeds’ brothers team Rick and Kurt Reil wrote most of the songs, which run the gamut from creamy, Raspberries-style ballads (“Window”) to the harmonic-laced, folk-tinged “Rainy Day #3” to the adrenaline rush of “She Surrounds Me”, which resembles a long-lost outtake from Notorious Byrd Brothers. The crunchy rocker “Is It Showing” with its monster riff, intricate four-part harmonies and timeless minor-key bridge may be the signature Weeds track, but the driving, stuttering “Love’s Lost on You”, oh so slightly reminiscent of Neil Young’s early solo work, neatly encapsulates all the best things about this veteran New Jersey quartet: thoughtful, melodic songwriting that is derived from the Beatlesque template of yore, but neatly sidestepping all the trappings of nostalgia. -Luke Torn