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Nous Non Plus is a friend of faux

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Sounds Like: The New Pornographers on a strict diet of baguette and escargo.

RIYL: Feist, France, Blonde Redhead, sewing, wearing tight red turtlenecks.

Personal Reaction: Ménagerie, the latest album from Francophonic popsters Nous Non Plus, which includes an homage to "Tuff Ghost" by Montreal's Unicorns (en Français, naturellement) will find a home in fans of indie pop (emphasis on "pop"), French new wave, and classic emo.

Though they sing in French, Nous Non Plus is from NYC and is composed of five Yankees plus one Swiss-German, lead singer Céline Dijon. Most of them were previously in the faux-French band Les Sans Culottes. In 2005, several members of Les Sans Culottes staged a coup d'état--a grand French tradition--and Nous Non Plus (literally translated to "us no more") was born.

All the blogs and reviews I've read about them tout the band as great purveyors of 60s French pop. However, they seem to ignore that French pop is clean and minimal. On more than one track, NNP crank the distortion and cue, full-brass, the horn section. The result pushes their sound beyond that genre and into one more akin to gypsy folk. Beirut does it better, and Firewater did it earlier. Oh, and "French Teacher" could be mistaken for the Bee Gees--just sayin'.

However, there are some winners on the album: "La Momie", "Toi et Moi", "Le Dandy", "Bollinger" (both of which nail 60s French pop), and the fantastic Unicorns cover "Fantôme Dur." And while the album cannot compete with the cohesiveness of recent releases by other, REAL Francophonic bands like Le Husky, a few tracks might come in handy when trying to woo a particular indie hipster chick. You know, the one who wears those fantastic knee-high socks.

Band :: Nous Non Plus

Album :: Ménagerie

Song :: Fantôme Dur (Tuff Ghost)



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