Sunny Day Sets Fire
Summer Palace (IAMSOUND)
By Erin Wolf
Published: July 9th, 2008 | 9:00am
It’s true that summertime is always the ripest time to pick up on new pop releases; but some just naturally taste sweeter than others, loaded with the sun’s warmth and containing an effortless and instant gratification factor. London’s Sunny Day Sets Fire — with delightfully breezy melodies, pretty boy-girl harmonies, and running motion of instrumentation from one golden song to the next — offers an excellent example of this.
Impressionable, never vapid lyrics meet fuzzy bass lines, and airy drops of glockenspiel and synth to make the music that's three-dimensional and vibrant. Onyee’s clear soprano echoes, falling alongside Mauro’s airy tenor to create sweet-sounding harmonies that spin through each song effortlessly. Their first full-length, Summer Palace, sounds like the combined efforts of Belle and Sebastian, Arcade Fire, the Flaming Lips, the Comas, Stars, and Broken Social Scene.
A mish-mosh of sounds are appropriate for the band, who, despite hailing from London, only has one band member that can hold claim to England as home turf. Ed (bass/ synth) is from London, Mauro (vocals/ acoustic guitar) and Max (guitar/ baritone guitar) are from Italy, Matthew (drums/ keys) is originally from Canada, and Onyee (vocals/ synths/ glockenspiel/ drums) is from China. Despite their varied geographical origins, these musician transplants all have the same pop sensibilities and gravitate towards creating shimmery sounds with potentially dark undercurrents — but never let the minor chords suck them under. Songs such as “Wilderness” and “Adrenaline” point the way to the fact that this is one band that has got the sound of summer down.
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Sunny Day Sets Fire's official site
Sunny Day Sets Fire's MySpace page
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