La Pieta

Some albums accompany busywork, and others are more appropriate for relaxation. You might listen to one while cleaning your apartment, the other as you settle in for an afternoon nap. In either case, the music is soothing background noise -- it doesn't ask much of you, and certainly doesn't challenge you. Summer is in a completely different category. Sure, you could play the album while flipping through a magazine or surfing the Internet, but you won't. With its carefully layered melodies and confessional lyrics, it demands your full attention. Commands, rather, because more than anything, Summer compares to an intimate chat between friends. It's soothing and comfortable, requires careful listening, inspires deep interest and certainly doesn't allow you time to mop the kitchen floor.
Perhaps the main reason Summer feels so intimate -- and sounds so much like a dear friend -- is because the vocals are disarmingly fresh. In an age when female vocalists so often fall into categories, like coffeeshop kitsch or airbrushed studio pop, La Pieta's Rachel sounds like the sweet-faced girl next door. She's someone that you -- guy or girl, gay or straight, hipster or dork -- would love to be friends with. After all, her singing just sounds so pleasant, how could she be any different? Complementing Rachel's voice in all the right places are drummer/vocalist Eric and guitarist Mike. La Pieta's male-female vocals achieve a familiar indie aesthetic demonstrated by the likes of Mates of State, but the fact that their lyrics and their delivery are so heartfelt and personal -- this sets La Pieta apart. Their layered call-and-response style seems more like whispered bedroom confessions than a calculated vocal performance. Meanwhile, Mike creates a minimalist soundtrack with perfectly composed guitar. Using advanced techniques -- melody, repetition, dynamics, et cetera -- his playing remains suitably understated, forming itself around his bandmates' efforts with masterful precision.
As well-constructed as Summer may be, the album's intangible effect is what makes it so noteworthy. Warm and relaxed, it does indeed sound like summer. It's not the running-through-sprinklers-and-letting-popsicle-juice-drip-down-your-arms kind of summer (as in Saturday Looks Good to Me's All Your Summer Songs), but a calmer, more grown-up season. It's twenty-somethings on a twilit porch, sipping drinks and not saying much, letting Summer's intimacy wash over them...and listening carefully as they do so. - Splendid E-Zine

La Pieta's music is as minimalistic as it is lazy. It is kind of like listening to a sunnier version of Codeine or Galaxie 500. A review accurately described the Brooklyn trio as "Rainer Maria on downers." The seven songs that appear on Summer are poppy and nostalgic, often dripping with sadness. Vocalists Mike & Rachel are superb. Rachel's voice is the driving force behind the band. Much like the simplistic music, it's a thing of beauty. - Lie Paper

La Pieta's Summer is aptly named. The album-opener "Surround" leaves valuable room in the mix for the ever-intensifying simplicity of Mike's guitars to work some wonderfully restrained magic. Rachel and Eric's vocals come off more like intense poetry reading than actual singing, which adds to the subtle urgency that "Surround" carries as a whole. This track manages to float away way too soon with every listen. Song like "Sound Machine" fall somewhere between Television and Low on the 'sounds like' scale. "Paperwhites" closes Summer, led by more of Rachel's stark vocals and some really nice lead-ish guitar parts. Recommended for fans of the lazy pop sound. - Delusions of Adequacy

Summer is an EP of 7 tracks recorded in a basement studio in Brooklyn by the band La Pieta. This EP helps restore faith in bands who do it all themselves. Summer has not one filler song on it, and with each track the band grows and grows, by the end of track seven you hit play all over again. - Bee's Knees

Listen hard enough and you'll start to agree with the band: The best way to illustrate relationships is to use subtelty as a safeguard. Songs are on the quiet side, which makes them all the easier to hum along to. The Brooklyn trio met at Oberlin College where, among other provocative past times, clever indie acts prevail. - Village Voice

La Pieta won me over with their Luna-esque guitar-centric pop rock and their Low-ish slowcore ballads... This is the kind of pop that is deliberately subtle, played at a walking pace, and as slow and delightful as a sunrise. Summer indeed... “Surround” lays down the groundwork and the welcome mat for the listener. Call and response male/female vocals, distant, understated percussion, and a guitar that propels the song, carries the melody, and much like the aforementioned Luna, gives us something different at every chorus turn. “April Is” would be the “indie hit”, perfect for those kids too happy to get into “depression music” and yet too sad to get into twee. While the tempo and the restrained energy may have you thinking somber pop, Mike’s dizzyingly good axe-work and Rachel’s sweet voice keep all that in check. It’s a great, charming balance. - Now Wave

Absolutely charming. An exercise in restraint; indie pop that is highlighted by flowery vocal harmonies, subtle songwriting and smart guitar playing. You'll listen to the album and want to have the band over sometime for dinner. - Suite101.com