Named after Billy Wilder’s 1959 hit comedy film, which is also centred around three musicians and lead characters (two male, one female) the London indie-rock trio of Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton return, gig-hardened from extensive touring, with a stylish, dynamic release filled with tales of strange romance, lust, identity, self-destruction, emotional vulnerability and modern-life mayhem. Unlike that fun movie (starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) however, this LP is much darker in mood, even though identify shifts are a theme, and is their fifth in just five years, following previous releases Tracey Denim and The Twits.
The band’s distinctive panache in part comes from the unusual set-up of three singer-songwriters trading contrasting vocal styles often within songs, delivering a wiry, gnarly, tight, shapeshifting, punch-drunk rock and post-punk. Opener Fundraiser is instantly hooky, with striking bell sounds, a brilliant bass line and explosive melody, bendy angular riffs and interchanging lead vocals: “I wrote your name with a can of spray / I wrecked your car trying to get away … Don't think I've actually met you / Not even in my dreams.” Appropriately somehow it also has an accompanying video starring actor Matt King who played the slippery, sleazy Super Hans character in the twisted cult TV comedy Peep Show. Next song Marble Arch, by contrast, has a gentle dream-like wistful feel, a swinging rhythm, but with dark images: “I dreamt you hung yourself / And my little sister too.” Cowbella is another standout with a rocking, shapeshifting rush about an older woman who provokes curiosity: “She sat at breakfast two chairs behind / And her eyes were like the ones of a child / Her hair was long and so very white / Just like the snow setting outside,” the song continuing to an explosive coda. Rooster has a sinuous groove, anthemic and yet unbridled, but with another uneasy theme: “I don't know why you've got me so in a twist / No resistance / My life is taken over by this / You can't forget about the target you missed / I was lost to the world, yeah, from the moment we kissed.” The gentler Bad Reputation has an oddball Balkan-tinged waltz rhythm, on which Fenton sings: “Just show me the face that you've been trying to hide.” Lioness struts with a new wave, angular guitar, wistful majesty, on which Fehmi declares: “You have no idea what I can do for you when I’m in this mood”. Along with other highlights, including Omni Shambles and the slow, moody, feedback and gently unfolding closing title track, it’s a fascinating, strange, at times brilliant and unpredictable release, filled with tense emotions to depict a reality-distorting fever dream. Blink and you’ll miss it. Out on Matador Records.
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