 Sahara Hotnights After the 70s-leaning hard-pop of Jennie Bomb, I expected the follow-up to be more of the same, especially given that in the meantime, The Darkness has forever blurred the irony of doing hook-laden power-rock, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have garnered much acclaim for doing girl-rock that you can actually listen to (watch as Sleater-Kinney slinks back into their chairs, thinking once and for all about giving it up and just going shopping at Pottery Barn, already). Kiss & Tell finds Sahara Hotnights flooring it straight into the 80s, sounding more like Scandal than ever before. And I have to say: YEAH! Though the songs aren't as strong as on the band's previous effort, their major-label debut adds keyboards, handclaps, and claves like haven't been seen since The Go-Go's underwent their Merry-Old-Land-Of-Oz-style makeover from raggedy punk bitches to streamlined pop debutantes. Though the new album clearly aims for full-throttle (as in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle mainstream success, its lack of even one kick-ass Big Single will relegate it mainly to overhead play at thrift stores and the occasional payola-ed inclusion on FOX teen dramas. Even so, I don't particularly look to Sahara Hotnights for stuff I can hum, melodic though they are … it's more the sense of vaguely misguided confidence that can only come from a foreign band trying to break big in the US. And the Cars-style synths definitely add to the enjoyment. Sometimes, the right music is much more about the right sound for the moment than the right songs. Endless apologies to Carole King, but I just wanna be chick-rocked, 80s-album-track style!
Review by La Fée |