Plasticines - About Love

  by Sarah Mwangi

published: 18 / 2 / 2010

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The Plastiscines may have shared the label ‘Les Bébé Rockers’ with young Parisian musicians over four years ago, but ‘About Love’ shows that even in their twenties they haven’t grown out of it. The all-girl French quartet’s second album does everything a sophomore album shouldn’t do. And that is to reaffirm adolescent tags and labels. A band releasing their second album is meant to show the world that they have arrived, that they have a voice and aren’t a fluke. The main problem is the immaturity in their song construction and their lack of editing. They identified a formula their songs should follow and religiously stick to it. Repetition is their biggest foe and the main component in the formula, so that three songs in, you know what’s coming next; verse, hook, chorus (where everyone joins in, shouts and sings in harmony) repeat. Now only if they had cut off a minute from each track, then there wouldn’t have been no need for the fillers. And as a result, the songs would have been elevated to tight and sharp creations with a sense of urgency, instead of highlighting their dependency. Individually, some of the songs can hold their own and there’s no denying that they’re catchy, fun and summer fresh straight from a can. Unfortunately, they all sound like a version of something that came before; The Hives, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Strokes, in fact they are all these bands but with a ‘-lite’ attached. By-passing ‘Bitch’, - a misguided Karen O effort from the all-girl band trying to reclaim the word - opt instead for the energetic ‘Barcelona’ and the hypnotic ‘Coney Island’ sung in French, a strength they should have picked up more often. In truth these girls have nothing to worry about. It doesn’t matter that their album sounds like inoffensive imitations; the world (sadly) has a market for such pedestrian music. A market filled, budding stylistas, trend followers and every teen looking to make the transition from pop to rock, albeit through a very poppy route. But what do you do when you don’t watch 'Gossip Girl' or read 'Vogue' magazine. Well, you chalk this one as a ‘one to watch’. That is if their music careers are more important than that Louis Vuitton bag.

Track Listing:-

1 I Could Rob You
2 Barcelona
3 Bitch
4 Camera
5 From Friends To Lovers
6 Time To Leave
7 I Am Down
8 Another Kiss
9 Pas Avec Toi
10 Runnaway
11 You're No Good
12 Coney Island

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