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. cd only on labrador.