Apple Bay

The debut album by Goteburg, Sweden's Irene is a case study in pop concision: its 12 songs are over in just over 24 minutes, each of them built on a bed of acoustic guitars, handclaps, and hand percussion. A gentle playfulness permeates these sunny songs, culminating in the glorious sunshine pop pastiche "Baby I Love Your Way" (in no way related to the similarly titled Peter Frampton hit), which adds close-knit harmonies and a bubbly horn section to the bubblegummy charms of the rest of the album. The fly in the ointment is singer/songwriter Tobias Isaksson, whose tuneless croak of a voice completely ruins the energy and carefree good vibes of the summery arrangements: imagine Leonard Cohen fronting Spanky & Our Gang. Isaksson got marginally better on this album's follow-up, Long Gone Since Last Summer, at least enough to make it possible to overlook his flaws and enjoy that album's even more ornate and bouncy charms. But it's such tough sledding to get past Isaksson's vocals on Apple Bay that only the most dedicated sunshine pop fans are going to make the effort. ~ Stewart Mason|