“A great summer song should have a great summery guitar riff,” The Beths’ Jonathan Pearce tells Apple Music. He should know: as lead guitarist and producer for the Auckland indie rock quartet, he pulls off some truly standout riffs across their 2022 album Expert in a Dying Field. So it only makes sense that he would curate a stacked run of such riffs for this exclusive playlist for Apple Music—with warm-weather socializing firmly in mind. “A great jangly summer guitar riff can while the time away, keep the conversation flowing and get the job done, all at once,” he says. “‘Sit beside me, watch the world burn’.” Besides being ultra-catchy and summer-friendly, Pearce’s selections are heavy on Antipodean talent, from Kiwis like Lawrence Arabia, The Bats and Aldous Harding to Aussies like The Goon Sax, Paul Kelly, and Spacey Jane. Read on for his thoughts on three tracks in particular.