Considering the harsh winter for which Iceland is named, the country sure knows how to churn out heartwarming tunes. In this vein, the young Icelandic female quartet Pascal Pinon — not to be confused with a similarly named Mexican circus performer — conjures sweet pop music on its self-titled debut.
The album launches with a whimsical introduction in the band’s native Icelandic, with a lone whistling recorder and a delicate combination of voices. The band, whose members are all around the ripe age of 16, continues the child’s play with xylophones, tinkering triangles and delicate keys.
As each short track flows into the next, the effervescence that Pascal Pinon exudes amplifies, as the band switches between unintelligible Icelandic and cutesy English vocals in a familiar Jonsi-style.
“I Wrote a Song” is clearly the album’s standout, and not just because it is one of the few tracks in English. Like the rest of the album, it is catchy from the beginning, with minimal instrumentation and a wispy, angelic sing-a-long. The song plays like an ode to a teenage lover, and although the subject of young romance would often be regarded as sap, the band turns the teenage love story into a brisk and bearable endeavor.
Were the members of Pascal Pinon five or six years older than they are, the album wouldn’t have the same youthful value — the quartet’s bright-eyed sensibilities and air of innocence work well in its favor.
Despite the background giggling, melodic ditties and blatantly teenage perspective, Pascal Pinon’s warm, sugarcoated tunes serve as a cozy remedy to winter’s bite — full of lovable, ethereal joy that’s infectious at any age.
