Oh my. This was an instant love affair. With some albums, it takes a while to really fall for them. But with 'Summertime?', the debut album of brazillian indie pop band Pale Sunday, it was love at first hearing. I admit that Pale Sunday may not be for everyone. They don't deliver much musical or lyrical challenge. If you are an art music follower who wants to ponder the essence of things, you can just keep reading about Josef K or watch Last Year at Marienbad. This is simple and perfect pop music. The album divides itself into two parts for me. The first five songs are jangly pop hits about girls, girls and well girls. Addictive songs with shiny choruses. First they want to get to know a girl who is playing the tambourine and secondly they want to impress Mary by wearing a Pastels badge. While the first half continues they also want to take Pam outdoors to feel the morning light and introduce a punk rock girlfriend. That 'My Punk Girl' reminds me of legendary finnish pop song 'Warriorette' by Ben's Diapers which was about heavy metal girlfriend who hated pop eternally. On the second part of the album Pale Sunday slowes down a bit and provide five dazzlingly beautiful songs. And while I adore the first half a lot, this latter half is even more amazing. Some can really turn simple chords and simple lyrics into something magical. You don't exactly have to be a poet to come up with a line "hold me / carry me in your arms / and before i sleep / tell me one more time / i'm not in a free fall", but it's amazing how touching it can sound when you wrap it up in the most beautiful melody and sing it with an angelic voice that seem so true and honest. This is a great summer soundtrack and one of the best indie pop albums in 2005. I myself will probably remember this album for as long as I live. That may have also some personal reasons behind it and not just the greatness of this album.   --One Chord To Another

 

Hurray for the return of Pale Sunday, and what a return. ‘Summertime?’ is easily the best indie pop album of the year so far. Y’know when you hear a record and you instantly know it’s gonna be good? Well, you don’t even have to hear this one…one look at it will tell you how special it is. From the packaging and the everso twee message on the back, to the chimes of ‘Never Fall Apart’, the soaring beauty of ‘She’ll Be Mine’ or the perfect pop of ‘Mary’. Brazil may have never had a better band. If you think this is hyperbole, then you’d be wrong. After all, I tend to give just about every Matinée release a cracking review, but then that’s because they’re usually brilliant records. Likewise, Pale Sunday have always greased my monkey – but that’s because they’ve always released utterly gorgeous records that it’s so easy to fall in love with. Pop music doesn’t have to be complicated, you see. In dark days, everyone needs a crutch. Pale Sunday are mine.   --Tasty

 

Summertime?… Seems like an appropriate question; weather can be so back-and-forth these days that it's hard to tell what season we're in. Or maybe the title of Pale Sunday's album is a different sort of question, like "Anyone up for summertime? Summertime, anyone?" Of course, summer is the perfect season for great breezy pop songs of this variety: songs that are catchy, pretty, light-as-air, and fun, yet with a hint of melancholy strong enough to account for summer heartbreak, lonely days, and disappointment. An enigmatic letter on the album's back cover describes summer like this: "Summer days make things better, summer days make things worse, summer days make me think about you a lot and want to stay with you all day long." Yes, if you can't tell, the members of Pale Sunday are romantics. Indeed, pretty much every song on the album is directed to a girl, an object of affection but also mystery. "Who's that girl playing the white tambourine," the singer asks at the start of the album, shyly yet with awe. Listening to her play the tambourine, he feels like he could fly. Is she real, is she a dream? He doesn't know, but she makes him feel happy. At the same time, he's worried she'll soon be gone. That mix of feelings – that combination of awe and fear, fascination and confusion, joy and unsteadiness – is at the heart of Pale Sunday's music. Not just the lyrics, it's in their sound. The Brazilian trio, in love with rock and pop sounds galore, has a wonderfully acute ear for melody, and also the ability to generate a mood that's compassionate, mysterious, and bittersweet at the same time. That complicated feeling is in the expressive singing, in the deceptively simple song writing, and in the way they play their beloved guitars. Summertime? is filled with infatuation – for a "punk rock girl", for a girl singing songs about Twiggy – but behind it lies both a childlike celebration of the world around us and a deep longing for some reassurance that the brilliant joy of summer isn't going to disappear. The ideal world in Pale Sunday's universe is one where the good times play out in slow motion, where the ideal summer never ends. There's a real sense of idealism in these songs, and along with it the ever-present specter of disappointment. The second half of the album is marked by that real-life sadness, from the passionate goodbye song "She'll Never Be Mine" through to the gorgeous "Strangeways." That album-ending narrative is in turns both hopeful and not, as it follows the meeting of two hearts ("a perfect moment"), and their parting ("dreams seem so far away"). Stylistically the scene set is fantastical yet also charged with real emotion, like everything on Summertime?. Pale Sunday have a way to make magic out of tears, and vice versa. Their music at times is as joyous as music can possibly be, but inside sadness is always lurking. The possibility of endless happiness is always there, but the reality of disappointment is too. It's a lot like summer.   --Erasing Clouds

 

After a couple stunning EPs - one self-released and one on Matinée - this superb Brazilian trio has finally released a full album! And naturally, it's packed full of instant hits! These ten songs combine the best of indiepop influences: the classic jangle of the Orchids, the shimmering guitars of Razorcuts (and a bit of their playfulness, too!), a hint of East Village's wistful melancholy and the hushed vocal style of Club 8 (only with a male singer), along with a mere hint of British shoegaze (see the swirly guitar and organ in the closing "Strangeways"). "My Punk Girl" sounds like it could've been recorded by any of today's finest young Swedish pop bands, like the Danny Says or Happy Birthdays. The only time I found my attention drifting was during the more pedestrian ballad, "A Safe Place", but apart from that, this is a fine debut album!   --IndiePages

 

I have a hard time resisting sweet, innocent wholesome indiepop. When the singer’s sincere and sweet and the words are heartfelt, I’ll admit—I’m a goner. That’s why I’m admitting to being a total, utter swoonin’ fool over Brazil’s indiepop kings Pale Sunday. This trio has a sound that will satiate the sweetest of pop fixations; the music is sweetly simple and simply sweet, full of all the things that make great pop music great: jingle-jangle guitars, tambourines, hand-claps and crooning. Really, we were suckers for their debut EP, but that didn’t prepare us for the ten songs found on their debut Summertime?; there was simply no way we could have known these three romantics could have made a breathtaking record that captures the essence of youth. From the heartbreak of “She’ll Never Be Mine” to the joyous “Sunday Morning” and the simply dreamy “Never Fall Apart” and “Mary,” Pale Sunday doesn’t try to overwhelm the listener with heavy-handed topics. Every member of the threesome takes turn writing songs, and that creates a nice variety of the very simple themes to be found: love, crushes, heartbreak, holding hands and enjoying music. More importantly, these songs are about enjoying life, the experiences of life, and the elements that make human existence wonderful: emotion. Their music may be simple and it might sound like it’s about to fall apart, but underneath the clutter and the racket is the heart of a really great young band. This is music for mix-tapes made by young men who know the magic of mix-tape making, and if there are other bands making this kind of charming indiepop, I really don’t care to know…I’m in love with Pale Sunday now.   --Mundane Sounds

 

The short list of great indie albums of all time must now be added `Summertime?` by Pale Sunday. Released last April on world famous indie label Matinée Recordings, it is truly the hottest indie album that ever came out from a South American outfit. This amazing piece of work is a perfect musical expression. These guys are so talented and focused on their music that they came out with a concept album to spread their love around. And it spreads. The splendid lyrics and superb voice of lead singer Luiz Gustavo makes the rich melodies sound as it should sound: happy and colored. It`s perfect listening when you`re on the move. Lead guitarist Sineval Almeida also shows his drawing skills in the cover which features original artwork all made by himself. The fine pop art comes in a very nice package with a charming message in the back, and, just because of that, you will want to own one. It can be fun to listen to it at home in a pale Sunday afternoon. It`s also suitable before going to work in a pale boring Monday morning. For that "Twiggy Superstar" is the suggestion. Or just get in the car and then just drive, listening to the standout track "Mary" and let it hit. So let`s just get in the car and let`s just drive because this band is on the verge of being huge. (Rating: 5/5)   --Studio 11