Stay Calm is the debut from Sweet Valley, the electronic duo made up of a couple of guys named Williams. One is the man who put the extra "v" in Wavves, the pride of San Diego-cum-Eagle Rock, the King of the Beach himself, Nathan Williams. The other is his brother Joel, or Kynan, apparently depending on the day. And whereas fuzzed-out, latter day Weezer/Blink-loving punk pop is Wavves' stock trade, for the brothers, it's about the beats and the bong. 

Nathan has long worn his preferred method of staying calm on his sleeve (see: weed emblazoned caps + album covers + grinder on sale at merch table), Kynan apparently shares in a love of the ganj - and the two have made the perfect summer soundtrack for those who think of "getting baked" as something other than procuding a good tan. Not that Stay Calm  is wall-to-wall smoked out by any means. 'Total Carnage" moves at a good clip, a spirited track with sludgy vocals on top. "Malibu Games" is the beachiest of the lot, with jittery, waterlogged Beach Boyesque harmonies, and the charmer of the lot is the bouncing bebop feel of Nintendo-pop "Suzuka 9 Hours", with a glitchy piano player synth underneath ghostly vocalizing.

Later on, the more bleary-eyed tracks kick in. The smoke fairily wafts in and out of "Dunk Dreams 95"and "Stay Calm", while "Sidewalk Surfer" takes it chilled out sweet time getting where it's going. A late album highlight is the woozy but kinetic "Eight", an instrumental with just enough wiry swirls to recall Ratatat. 

New music from Nathan Williams is never a bad thing, and while the debut from his project with Kynan may be short, it's often sweet indeed.