Paradigmes

With each album, La Femmes musical horizons have widened significantly -- an impressive feat, considering that their 2013 debut album, Psycho Tropical Berlin, already blended Krautrock, surf, coldwave, psychedelic rock, and ye-ye. Though it seemed the collective stretched their music to its limits on 2016s dark, sprawling Mystere, they discover plenty of new territory on Paradigmes. Its true that there are more than a few songs that could be called quintessential La Femme. The slinky, elegant electro-pop workouts Divine Creature and Nouvelle Orleans, the motorik of Mon Ami, and the eerie exotica of Va are all indeed paradigms of the groups music. More often, though, La Femme take their listeners on a style-hopping journey. In its first few songs alone, Paradigmes ranges from the silvery processed vocals and wailing brass of the title track, which feels like a number from a retro sci-fi musical, to the rainy French pop ballad Le sang de mon prochain to the Plastic Bertrand-meets-Devo blast of Foutre le bordel. The group get even wilder on Lacher de chevaux, which sounds like the logical conclusion of a collaboration between Ennio Morricone and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. La Femmes travels on Paradigmes also take them to the U.S. Cool Colorado is a laid-back homage that drifts along like a puff of pot smoke, and hearing about cowboys and Sweet Georgia Brown in a thick French accent over groovy brass and tambourines goes a long way toward making them seem cool again. As always, La Femme have more than enough style and atmosphere to appeal to non-Francophones, though Paradigmes features their first song in English: Under its bubbly electronics, Foreigner has an undercurrent of alienation that can come from being in a strange land or feeling like a stranger to someone who used to be dear. Its somewhat remarkable that a band this individualistic is scoring Top Ten hits and opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers in their homeland, but La Femmes passion for seeking out new (or vintage) sounds to add to their omnivorous pop is contagious, and never more so than on Paradigmes. ~ Heather Phares