PINTO (AND LUCIA)

Those "crazy-ass socialist" Swedes, PINTO -- ANDREAS, HANNAH, LARS, and DICK -- are back again with a brand spankin' new single. This one comes just three weeks after the release of their LAST single, "Iron and Rust." These fine folks are nothing if not industrious.

The first song below has a bit of understated bump-bump in its trunk, and both tracks percolate along with that perfect pop sense I've come to expect from these guys -- not too much or too little of any one component. I mean, honestly, do they teach Pop Songcraft 101 in the public schools in Gothenburg? In Stockholm? In... um... all those other cities of Sweden?

Regardless, if you haven't yet visited the MUSIC page on the PINTO website, what are you waiting for? You'll find plentiful pop gems there, ready to meet your "right-click/save-as" needs.

[P.S. Andreas told me that he would be celebrating "Lucia" yesterday. Something about children dressed in white with candles on their heads. I naturally assumed that Andreas had just been hitting the Absolut a little too hard. But, a quick trip to Googleland later... "On December 13th, one of the shortest days of winter, girls in Sweden dress up as Santa Lucia, wearing a white dress and a crown of candles. Boys carry a candle and wear a kind of white pyjama."

Ahh... charming! Except...

"In Sweden we do not wear candles anymore because girls caught their hair on fire very often."

Yikes! And then...

"The way that Saint Lucia became a saint was that there was a man who liked her that Lucia didn't like back. Lucia's mother asked her to marry the man but she refused. When the man heard about this he said he would burn her. But Lucia prayed to God to have the power to survive the fire. Because of her kindness to others her wish was granted. The man tried to burn her but she had the power to withstand fire so the man got a sword and stuck it in Lucia's throat."

All of which is to say: "Happy holidays!"

PINTO on MySPACE. ["Saint Lucia" story courtesy of KRISTIAN & NORA, grade 5, currently enrolled in Pop Songcraft 101.]

[MP3] "Here Comes the Love (Can You Show Me a Way Out?)"

[MP3] "Hard Inside the Heart"