In this hot and sticky late summer comes the debut of the Givers, a new indie-pop group from Louisiana. I immediately liked their offering, fresh and enjoyable: vocals equally divided between the sexes, little flutes, rattles, bells, and many chirps and rings that are very late August-like.

It might seem like the usual sparkling teen-pop-flop, and here's where the surprise comes: many tracks don’t seem overly manipulated and have the scent of the sea, grass, and lipstick.

In fact, first and foremost, the Givers have fun, and then they make you have fun. But music that smiles makes you smile. And so here are tons of lightheartedness, equally distributed in gentle and relaxed tracks. The Givers’ sun-kissed sound consists of: an aperitif guitar that, whether clean or distorted, always has the same effect, that of spraying a bit of foam in your face; when acoustic, in its sounds from a college student guitarist, it inspires picnics and impromptu soccer games without goals. The keyboards and synths sit well in the background, and when they come to the forefront, they bring in a flashy breeze that often (luckily) precedes sexy cameos from the blonde Tiffany Lamson. The drum set overuses cymbals, which are too present in the sound, as is the voice of effects, but all this seems attributable to the production, which is a bit confused. I want to instead highlight the respectability of the rhythm section, especially the bassist who delights in atypical broken and mutable rhythms, pushing the other instruments into seemingly inappropriate territories: indeed, many tracks feature frequent changes in speed and style, which increase the listening longevity of the pieces.

So, you travel comfortably lying between the beach party atmospheres of Up Up Up and Meantime, among the green stems of Saw You First and Words, and between the waves of Ceiling of Plancton and Atlantic. Our Friends even indulge in seven minutes of post-hangover reflections in Go Out All Night. The funky rhythms, warm and seductive atmospheres, and plastic blend somewhat poorly in some of the less successful compositions (Ripe, Noche Nada, In my Eyes), which curiously also have the most interesting ideas.

So what? A young band making young music for young people, others better stay away. In Light offers fairly abundant doses of relaxation, without peaks but also with good motifs and ideas freshly revived from the mothballs.

And yet, up there are four dots, because these notes caress your eardrums without giving you the impression that you are wasting time, because they have been the backdrop for nights and nights of make-out sessions, because it’s the CD to put in your eighteen-year-old friend’s car taking you to the beach with six others all packed in the Twingo, because it’s concentrated good mood.

Give us a chance, with the same attitude you ask for a long drink, because In Light is. It’s an ice cream with a flavor you’ve never tried before.

Tracklist and Videos

01   Up Up Up (04:33)

02   Meantime (05:02)

03   Saw You First (05:07)

04   Ripe (05:05)

05   Noche Nada (A Lot From Me) (04:47)

06   Ceiling of Plankton (04:20)

07   In My Eyes (04:47)

08   Atlantic (04:54)

09   Go Out at Night (07:24)

10   Words (05:33)

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