Pitchfork

Relax, my fellow Americans: Sambassadeur aren't as French as their Gainsbourg-referencing name implies. They're Swedish, and singer/guitarist Anna Persson's understated coo is so similar to Cardigans singer and fellow Swede Nina Persson's, it's as if they're the same persson, ah, person. "Kate" is a sunny-day sailing song, not yacht-rock but confectioner's twee, with chirpy acoustic guitars, strings, and a beat that's sure to set polka-dot dresses careening wildly, oh my. Singer/guitarist Daniel Permbo offers his own, equally understated everygeek commiserations. It took a few listens, but I figured out what it reminds me of: the plink-a-dink electric guitar riff of Modern English's "Melt With You", but with splashy hi-hats and ever-overhanging distant mist. The fog refracts rainbows, and in the multihued sunlight, cotton-candy enlightenment can be attained, or at least glimpsed. Our Persson: "Times won't last forever, don't you know."