Summertime?

Brazilian indie poppers Pale Sunday aren't doing anything new or innovative on their debut album, Summertime? They are indie pop through and through, from the strummy guitars, peppy tempos, classic melodies, and wistful vocals to the lyrics about girl singers, punk girls, morning girls, and, well, girls. Luckily, they do what they do very well. The album is a short and breezy affair, cruising by in about half an hour on a wave of polite tenderness and tambourines. The best songs, like the melancholy "Never Fall Apart" and the dreamy "The White Tambourine," sound like Razorcuts album tracks, and one or two could have even been singles, like the heavy soul ballad "She'll Never Be Mine" and the bouncy "Twiggy Superstar." The only weakness of the album is the sameness from song to song, with an exception or three ("Twiggy Superstar," "She'll Never Be Mine," and "Strangeways," an epic acoustic ballad that ends the record on a high note) it seems like the songs were recorded one after the other without changing much of anything. Great for consistency but even on a short record like this it is nice to have some sonic variation. Still, it is hard to complain too much about a record with good tunes and strong performances. Maybe on the next record they'll pay a bit more attention to production values.