Picnic & Beach Party Sweetness:I'm From Barcelona's Let Me Introduce My Friends

“Collection of Stamps” sounds like a return to the quirky pop of the Nails’ “88 Lines About 44 Women,” except that here we’re collecting stamps instead of girls. I’m From Barcelona’s Let Me Introduce My Friends has plenty of sing-along la, la, la’s, making it the perfect recommendation for picnics, beach parties, and summer drives.

The band’s theme song, “We’re from Barcelona,” blends this large ensemble’s sound into something akin to the Polyphonic Spree. The teenage, hippie romantic in all of us can appreciate the Anathallo rhythms and Poi Dog Pondering sway of “Treehouse” (“I have built a treehouse/Nobody can see us/It’s a you and me house”).

This Swedish group of friends who never knew they would become a band are now touring the world where they will display this combination of Polyphonic Spree sounds and multiple other pop references. “Ola Kala” has Spree like anthemic choruses with 80’s pop/dance verses. Delving into the musical history that would lead to the Spree sound, “The Saddest Lullaby” find David Bowie and brings him along as if in a dream.

Beyond all the flying, drifting vapor swirling around these choral pop songs, the uplifting, rallying bonus track, “The Painter,” brings it all home until you’re bouncing around in your chair, given hope in that Sufjan Stevens kind of way.

Thanks to I’m From Barcelona, Mute, Dolores Recordings, and EMI Music Sweden for the review CD.