Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
First up is the spectacular debut album 'Summertime?' (matcd037) from Brazilian trio Pale Sunday! The band turned heads with its 2003 single 'A Weekend With Jane' (matinée 049) earning acclaim from international music press and comparisons to indie legends Another Sunny Day and Razorcuts plus contemporary bands Brideshead and Aerospace. Since then, the band has contributed covers of Smiths and Sportique songs to Matinée compilations 'Romantic and Square is Hip and Aware' and 'Matinée 50' while writing and recording the ten new songs for this album. 'Summertime?' has all the essential POP! ingredients...jangling guitars, addictive choruses, tambourines, trumpets, handclaps, sha-la-la's and perfect melodies. Sometimes the guitars get fuzzy in classic shoegaze fashion but in the end the bright shimmering pop songs and spirit of '86 take over. The band wears 80s British pop influences on its sleeves but somehow manages to sound completely modern with some of the catchiest songs of the year. In addition to nine English language hits the album features one song in the band's native Portuguese, which of course is the most beautiful language in the world.
In reviewing the record, hip UK fanzine Tasty called it "the best indie pop album of the year so far" and of course Tasty is spot on with its reviews so what are you waiting for? You can listen to 'The White Tambourine', 'My Punk Girl' and 'Strangeways' on the sounds page and order the CD right now from the Matinée webshop or your favorite pop emporium. To celebrate the album, Pale Sunday has launched a new website and plans to announce live dates soon. Nice.
- www.indiepages.com/matinee/news
Brazil enters the pop race with Pale Sunday, a lovely little jingle-jangle pop group. Their singer has this lovely, affecting voice, made even more saucy by his accent! At times, they sound like a South American Lucksmiths, which, believe me, couldn't possibly be a bad thing! "A Weekend With Jane" kicks off the single, and oooooh, it's dreamy! "Go Ahead" is a bit more rockin', though "Today" slows things down and gets a little more romantic. "The Girl With Sunny Smile" ends with a P!o!p!, and I'm enthralled and, once again, left eager for their next record! Hurry hurry, Jimmy Matinée! Single Of The Week. - Mundane Sounds
A Weekend with Jane' has been described as combining as the best elements of Sarah records with the Jesus and Mary Chain. It's not though. It's twee, very twee, and sounds like a reasonable version of Belle and Sebastian and a poorer version of Cinerama. It works well if you are still at school and holding hands for the first time. The title track has a Stuart Murdoch inspired vocal, but has a more traditional style band sound than Belle and Sebastian. 'Go Ahead', the next song, is faster and much more chunky in in its approach and delivery. 'Today' is very twee, and lovely, if you like that sort of thing. 'The Girl with Sunny Smile' has a rapid tempo and brings things to a speedy conclusion. They very much sound like they are from Surrey, which is odd considering that they are from Brazil. It ends with a phone call ring and a love song sang to a girl over the phone. Despite it over-forced naivety, this is an otherwise enjoyable and very, very sweet record. - Pennyblack Magazine
May 28, 2005 - Nos sentimos más animados, parece que cierto cosquilleo se ha apoderado de nuestro cuerpo. Tenemos ganas de relajarnos y respirar. Tenemos ganas de que los rayos de sol rocen nuestra cara y que melodías tan bellas como "The While Tambourine" empañen ese momento. Llega el verano y nos sentimos más vitales, y llega a nuestras manos el primer larga duración de Pale Sunday desde Brasil y respaldados por el sello Matinée Recordings. Un disco de diez preciosos temas, a cada cual más especial delicado y sutil. A cada cual más pop. "Summertime?" es uno de los discos más bonitos que hayamos podido escuchar últimamente. Una pequeña joyita que modestamente logra apoderarse de nuestras emociones, haciéndonos sentir más que nunca, una delicia.
"Summertime?" abre con "White Tambourine", como ya he dicho una bella canción pop de voz susurrante que le da Luis Gustavo, su cantante y bajista. A Luis le acompañan Sineval Almeida y Fabricio Cantoni a la guitarra y batería, ofreciéndonos un total de diez canciones de una transparencia y sencillez abrumadora. Le siguen "Mary" donde siguen sonando esas cristalinas guitarras y donde el estribillo engancha a la primera.
El siguiente tema es "Sunday Morning" dedicado al día nublado en el que pusieron nombre a su banda, a la que se añadió Nico, un amigo suyo, a los teclados y que les acompañaba en sus comienzos. "Twiggy Superstar" es otro de los hits del disco, con un ritmo que marca el hammond y que suena a costa americana. El tema cinco es "My Punk Girl" más acelerado y con distorsión a las voces, y palmadas como acompañamiento. En "Never Fall Apart" y "She’ll never be mine" el sonido se va asentando en algo más sosegado, que sigue con "1978" cantada en brasileiro. Sigue tranquilo "A Safe Place" y acaba con "Strangeways" quizás la más melódica y llena de matices, aunque en su conjunto "Summertime?" sea un regalo para los oídos del amante del pop más sivarita.
Pale Sunday pueden llegar a recordarnos a los sonidos del desaparecido sello Sarah Records, al anorak pop de mitades de los noventa, a todas esas bandas y todos esas melodías que hacían del indie algo grande. Siendo así, se reciben con muchas más ganas las primeras oleadas de calor que nos acercan a un verano que empieza de aquí a muy pocos días. - www.popchild.com
June 6, 2005
Hurray for the return of Pale Sunday, and what a return. ‘Summertime?’ is easily the best indie pop album of the year so far. Y’know when you hear a record and you instantly know it’s gonna be good? Well, you don’t even have to hear this one…one look at it will tell you how special it is. From the packaging and the everso twee message on the back, to the chimes of ‘Never Fall Apart’, the soaring beauty of ‘She’ll Be Mine’ or the perfect pop of ‘Mary’. Brazil may have never had a better band. If you think this is hyperbole, then you’d be wrong. After all, I tend to give just about every Matinée release a cracking review, but then that’s because they’re usually brilliant records. Likewise, Pale Sunday have always greased my monkey – but that’s because they’ve always released utterly gorgeous records that it’s so easy to fall in love with. Pop music doesn’t have to be complicated, you see. In dark days, everyone needs a crutch. Pale Sunday are mine. --Tasty Fanzine - http://www.tastyfanzine.org.uk/albumindex.htm
It is spring after all, the ideal time for a flower like this to bloom. Brazilian outfit Pale Sunday tuck an ever-present melancholy inside their palm-tree jangle, with vocals pitched like Dave Gedge only higher, and Hookian basslines. Perfect for the apparent heatwave that we are due. --Vanity Project - http://www.vanityproject.co.uk/
May 26, 2005 - I just had to praise Pale Sunday. A packet came from the greatest online store poppolar and brought their debut album today. I loved the earlier single and this album is even better. Full of great songs. Who could resist such pop gems as 'Mary'
"Mary i brought you daisies
And a big box of candies
johnny said that it’s your birthday
and showed me your favorite song
mary I know I’m not romantic
and I like all the songs you hate
but tonight I promise it will be perfect
look, I’m wearing a pastels badge"
Simple and perfect. They are from Brazil. They are wonderful. Album is out on Matinee. From One Chord - Finnish Pop Site - http://www.onechord.net/update.htm
Apparently that cdep that I recently reviewed ("Everything Starts When You Smile") wasn't a legitimate release, and more of a demo, so this is the debut ep from this wonderful Brazilian trio! The title track is perfect jangly indiepop in the style of the Smiths or the Orchids. The next track, "Go Ahead", is an excellent upbeat tune (reminding me a bit of the Honeymoons) with a prominent bassline and snare, and "The Girl With Sunny Smile" follows a similar pattern, but adds an electric guitar melody and turns the acoustic guitar up in the mix. In between those two songs rests "Today", a slower song enhanced with strings. These guys are a shoe-in for best new band for 2003! MTQ = 4/4 From IndiePages.
- http://www.indiepages.com/reviews
This trio from Brazil gives us four beautiful and most melodic, catchy jangly guitar pop songs in a long while. You'll love it! How can someone resist the best of Sarah Records, early Acid House Kings and Brideshead altogether in a four song EP? Highly recommended!! From Poppolar.
- http://www.poppolar.com/
Pale Sunday is from Brazil, and trades in pleasant, guitar-based indie pop. The vocals are sensitive, the guitars strummed politely, the drums lightly tippy-tapped (probably by machines), the synths set on weepy orchestra. The four songs on the group's debut EP breeze past on a cloud of pleasant nostalgia for bands like the Chesterfields, the Field Mice, and East Village -- bands that jangled nicely and harmonized and wore sweaters. The members of Pale Sunday probably don't wear a lot of sweaters, but their music does. Even when they rock out a little on the single's best track, the catchy and most Sarah Records-sounding -- no, make that most Sunday Records-sounding -- "The Girl With the Sunny Smile," it is done in such a way that no one's beverage of choice is likely to be upset, much less toppled. If you like your indie pop by the book and Charlie Brown sweet, Pale Sunday is a band to keep your eyes open for.From All Music Guide. - http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=12:11:26|PM&sql=Anpez97idkr5t
Discography
The band's new Album, Summertime? was just released on Matinee Recordings May 16th! Visit: http://www.indiepages.com/Matinee
Summertime? [2005]
A Weekend with Jane - EP [2003]
Matinee 50 - Various Artists [2003]
Pop Renaissance - Excellent Records Compilation Release [2003]
Romantic and Square is Hip and Aware - Various Artists [2003]
Everything starts with a smile [2003]
Dreamscape [2002]
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Early 1999, two friends (Gustavo and Sineval) in love with Sarah and Creation Records, tired of having nothing to do in their small town, decided to form a band.
A few months later, another friend, Nico, joined the group playing keyboards and guitars. On a cloudy Sunday they'd chosen the band’s name: Pale Sunday.
Fabricio, who was starting to work with musical production, invited the band to record a song under his production. Pale Sunday released (only in Brazil) the tape single Dreamscape (Amy Records) including the songs ‘A star will shine’ and ‘Rainy day’.
2000 was a year of changes, Nico left the group. Gustavo and Sineval were studying and working all the time so that they couldn't dedicate themselves to the band.
In 2001, they restarted composing new songs. `Everything starts when you smile` and `Go ahead` were also recorded in Fabricio's home studio and both songs got some excellent reviews after being presented to Indiepop lovers in Brazil. Some months later, already in 2002, Pale Sunday completed what would be the band first EP with two other pop hits: the romantic ballad 'Today' and the catchy ‘The girl with sunny smile’. This 4 songs EP, named 'Everything starts when you smile', was published in a totally independent way and used as a 'promo work'.
Pale Sunday's year 2002 hadn´t finished yet! In October, Jimmy Tassos (Matinée Recordings) listened to Everything starts when you smile EP and offered the band the wonderful opportunity of releasing their songs on his own label. In late April of 2003, 'A weekend with Jane', Pale Sunday's debut on Matinée, was out. The tracklist included 3 songs from that independent disc plus the new EP title track.
As you may think, Pale Sunday is "officially" a trio again, Fabricio is the "new" member.
Links
