La Liberaction

After spending an apparent aeon in the wilderness, catsuit-clad dance commandos CSS return to the music world this fortnight with their mature third effort La Liberacion. It’s a record that, in many ways, hits the reset button for the band in the wake of the critical, commercial and creative flop that was their second offering Donkey. Sounding more focused and fired-up than they have in many moons, the album recaptures the fun factor that their debut Cansei De Ser Sexy had in spades and also expands their sonic vision, pushing their reggae, punk rock and riot grrrl influences further to the forefront.

Kicking off with the delicate ‘I Love You,’ the party only really gets going when the second track, ‘Hits Me Like A Rock,’ drops. Featuring Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie on guest vocals, the song swaggers along thanks to a rhythm that’s reminiscent of MIA’s ‘Paper Planes’ (or The Clash’s ‘Straight To Hell,’ depending on your reference point) and it sets things up nicely for the rest of the record. From there, Lovefoxxx & Co. leads us on a merry musical dance and over the course of 40 minutes treat us to feelgood samba jams (‘Echo Of Love’) ballads about breakups (‘You Could Have It All’) and punk-tinged anthems about freedom and women’s rights (‘La Liberacion’) all delivered with a healthy serving of their trademark weirdness. While admittedly La Liberacion never quite reaches the heady heights of their hook-laden debut, it’s still a great record in its own right and reminds us why we fell in love with the band in the first place. Welcome back folks.