You Are the One

You Are the One is the debut LP by Spanish indie pop singer Cristina Quesada. A relative newcomer to Spain's thriving twee scene, the young Quesada signed with Madrid-based indie Elefant Records in 2013 to release Pineapple Princess, a minimalist six-song EP of mostly covers played on ukulele with gentle accents of glockenspiel and not much else. Quesada's first full-length, while still yieldingly lightweight, does up the ante on production value with some pleasant pop arrangements to fill in the gaps between her demure vocals. Like the EP, You Are the One contains mostly covers culled from sources both classic (French yé-yé singer France Gall, '60s American pop singer Little Peggy March) and contemporary (Elefant labelmates Alpaca Sports, Milkyway, and Niza), and Quesada gamely applies her tremulous voice to the material in no less than five different languages. Beginning with a very genial cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey," Quesada gingerly works her way through Spanish folk-pop, bubbly French synth-pop, and onto a bossa nova cover of ABBA's “Cante (Enquanto Houver Canção)” sung in Brazilian Portuguese. She even tries her hand at Italian and Japanese by the record's end. Her ukulele is largely absent and the album's arrangements, courtesy of Elefant labelmates Band à Part, are clean and tidy, with a soft effervescence to match Quesada's coy, blushing delivery. With its breezy melodies, soft strings, and summertime vibes, it's a very polite, amiable debut.