Tahiti 80

A Piece of Sunshine (Minty Fresh)
by Tim Den

I enjoyed Tahiti 80‘s last full-length, ’03’s –Wallpaper For the Soul, but A Piece of Sunshine surprised me by being even better. An EP? Made up of album outtakes at that? Yup, fo’ sho’. Whereas Wallpaper For the Soul took some nice detours into different spectra of moods, A Piece of Sunshine succeeds by glazing us with as much (classy and smart) pop as possible. Jellyfish (albeit a French and heavily-influenced-by-Stereolab version) comes to mind, especially the springtime hop-and-a-skip of “Listen” and “Better Things Will Come.” The latter sports such a “everything is wonderful!” vibe, that not even a torrential downpour outside can prevent an onset of light-footed tra-la-las.

With a party jammin’ instrumental in the middle (“Antonelli”) and a sexy serenade to close it out (“In My Arms”), Tahiti 80 have turned me from a casual fan into a declarator of their awesomeness.
(www.mintyfresh.com)