About Love

iTunes Review

France’s Plastiscines' follow-up to LP1 (their debut) shows the female quartet stretching out of their comfort zone (simple, punchy garage rock influenced by a variety of bands and decades), and exerting a little more muscle, along with more originality. There’s a confident playfulness at work here, reminiscent of sassy schoolgirls on the playground who know they’re the queen bees. The purring threat of the hook-heavy “I Could Rob You” is laughable, coming from these wispy femmes, but the breathy refrain, “love is gone/you can’t have it back,” barbed with staccato guitar and drums, make clear their fiendish plot. “Camera” is a powerhouse track, its tightly wound guitars and heaving tom drums bulldozing the French-sung lyrics along with force. (Their French language power pop sounds great on “Pas Avec Toi,” too.) Delivering the chorus, “B-I-T-C-H, I’m a bitch,” with full-on glee and handclaps, guitars pulsing and clanging with something resembling menace, Plastiscines are clearly having fun while they carve themselves a secure nitch in the indie-rock pantheon. Tres bonne!