Sambassadeur
‘European’
(Labrador)

Trust the Swedes to haul stringladen 60s swishiness out of the pallid post-Ronson doldrums; Sambassadeur may not exactly be household names here yet, but their third album’s absurdly well equipped to put pay to that. For one thing, Anna Persson’s vocals are a languid, lazily luxurious confection throughout, equal parts Sarah Cracknell and Tracyanne Campbell, and they’ve got a melodic knack that positively judders with joy without ever toppling from the twee tightrope: ‘Days’ is a delirious summer skip through meadows galore, ‘Sandy Dunes’ is practically a Motown stomper, and New Order clearly hid ‘I Can Try’ playfully down the back of Belle And Sebastian’s sofa years ago. Give Sambassadeur a warm reception, folks – with ‘European’, they’re really spoiling us…

Iain Moffat