Sun in Bloomington, MN

The aptly titled second album by France's
Pastel Coast
,
Sun
picks up where their 2019 debut,
Hovercraft
, left off: with a shimmery, jangling indie pop that summons the seaside surfaces and summer infatuations of their native Boulogne-sur-Mer. The group began as the solo recording project of singer and songwriter
Quentin Isidore
but expanded to a five-piece with their
Isidore
-helmed debut. With the band separated by the COVID-19 pandemic, he recorded and mixed
on his own, though its lush, expansive productions belie their isolated origins. While drawing musically on dream pop, dance-pop, and new wave, separation is indeed addressed lyrically on the driving opener, "Distance," which includes lyrics like "Dance, dance, dance, dance, distance disappear." The uninitiated may notice that
can evoke
Phoenix
frontman
Thomas Mars
at times, arguably never more so than on "Sunrise," a midtempo, bittersweet second track that captures certain melodic idiosyncrasies and patterns of repeated words characteristic of
Mars
. Later in the track list, "Sunrise" is balanced by the more-invigorated "Sunset," which extends the same tendencies. That song opens with
Prefab Sprout
-type harmonic attacks before launching into a swirling dance-pop. The joyous "Rendezvous" is another late-appearing, rousing entry. While defaulting to English,
likes to throw in French phrases on occasion, like the latter song's "Voulez-vous dancer?," though English speakers will always get the gist. A couple instrumental interludes, including the three-and-a-half-minute intro to the final track, "Radiant," add a cinematic flair to
that adds to what already feels like an escape from confines. ~ Marcy Donelson