- To begin on a nice, confident note – my knowledge on The Pastels is limited.

From what I’ve managed to garner since committing to reviewing the new album… The Pastels are from Glasgow. They have that instantly recognisable 80s indie, get-up-in-the-afternoon sound. It’s the DIY sound that flourished on UK labels such as Rough Trade and Creation Records. One can hear echoes of their contemporaries, My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, The Pooh Sticks and Teenage Fanclub – of whom the Pastels shared a member at some point.

But onwards – the new album, ‘Slow Summits’ – and the first one since 1997! To be fair, the band weren’t entirely inactive throughout this time. There were collaborations with Tenniscoats, Jarvis Cocker, a film soundtrack and some music for a theatre production. The album has been coming together since the last one, and thus is the musical equivalent of a slow cooked lamb hot pot.

While it’s not to this reviewer’s taste – there is a lot going for ‘Slow Summits’. On this album, the Pastels are the closest they’ve been to the original 1981 line up. As a result, the music sounds natural and comfortable – it’s extremely consistent, it’s subtle and it’s refined. The songs drift by in 2/4 and 4/4 – they are pop songs, but almost all of them surpass the golden three and a half minute mark.

What shows on this album is The Pastel’s progression. There is a general ‘togetherness’ in the playing and production. This makes sense considering it’s over thirty years since the group formed. It’s crafted and considered musicianship – an album by adults, not teenagers. ‘Slow Summits’ still has the unexpected elements you’d associate with the early 7”s and EPs – the horns in the opening track, “Secret Music”; an organ; at one point in “Wrong Light”, there is even an appearance from a recorder. Core members, Katrina Mitchell and Stephen McRobbie’s vocals first seem a juxtaposition to what’s happening musically. Although after a few listen, I came to realise that it’s just used to better effect in selected tracks – these include “Night Time Made Us”, “Check My Heart” and “Wrong Light”.

If there was any criticism, the album is too paced. The final track, ‘Come to the Dance’, could have been left out too – the lyrics are twee and clumsy, they seem out of place for songwriters have entered their forties and fifties.

To conclude, The Pastels ‘Slow Summits’ is well cast. It’s melodic, and devastatingly paced – this is the album for YOU! You, who prepares the meals on weeknights, and you – partial to a Sunday drive. It’s perfectly suited for that.

- Makeda Zucco