(Labrador/Popfrenzy)

Must be something in the water…

It’s getting to the point that record stores could start a section labelled New Swedish Pop and if you were blindfolded and put in front of the rack, the first thing you touched with a fingertip would probably be worth picking up (the same goes for the Canadian Art-Pop section). Apple Bay, the debut album by Gothenburg multi-member pop troupe Irene, is no exception – it’s a ramshackle beauty filled with classic sunshine pop music built from handclaps, harmonies, brass, unashamedly romantic lyrics, and hooks galore. Twelve tracks of two-minute summer-loving glee, you can almost envision how much fun it must have been to record. Frontman Tobias Isaksson leads the way with a low-voiced croon that suggests the love child of Stephin Merritt and Jens Lekman, and the songs he writes are equally as catchy and well-crafted. When the trumpets on Stardust kick in after the surfside opening scene-setter Simple Chords, you know you’re in safe hands here. The fun continues with Little Things (That Tear Us Apart) – possibly the jauntiest love-on-the-rocks song ever written – and the euphoric Baby I Love Your Way. Accidentally Yours is a dreamy ‘60’s ballad with a hint of smile on its lips, and penultimate number Summer’s Gone, with it’s Summer’s gone, and I’m not ready yet lament, ensures you’ll be wishing the album wasn’t ending as well. It’s like a perfect little sun-polished shell you stumble across at the ocean’s edge – you didn’t even need to search for it, and there it is.

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TOPHER HEALY

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