Music Review

03 December 2008 04:54 BST

Dragonette: Galore

Mercury, out now.

In a Nutshell…

Imagine Kelly Clarkson really liked poppers…

Who's It By…

For those of you not overly familiar with Dragonette, here's a whistle-stop tour of the facts.

1 A husband and wife are involved in the project – Canadians Martina Sorbara and Dan Kurtz.
2 Martina's dad is Ontario's Liberal finance minister.
3 They used to be called the Fuzz and once supported Duran Duran.
4 The people who manage the Scissor Sisters also pull their strings.
5 Peter Robinson and the guys at Popjustice really like them.
6 They like swans, horses, glitterballs, trombones and Elizabethan ruffs.
7 They make the sort of camp pop that the British public occasionally embrace rather fervently.

What's it all about…

The Canadian/British camp electro-poppers have been around for a while now. In fact they've supported the likes of New Order, Basement Jaxx and the Sugababes. What with a ringing endorsement from Peter Robinson (who also tipped little old Robyn for success this year)l 2007 was supposed to be Dragonette's year.

Unfortunately, no one seems to have told the record buying public and the band's first single only reached the dazzling heights of 92. Undaunted, they've pushed on and won over a host of muddy teenagers with a storming set at Glastonbury.

A few months further down the line and the album, all stabby synths and the sort of female pop vocals that makes you think of a camper Blondie, is ready for release.

As an example…

"Here I come, wait a minute now/ I say yes when I oughta say no" - I Get Around

"She's got no idea where you been/ No idea what you been doing in the bedroom/ in positions that she never knew existed" - Competition

What the others are saying

"The definition of brilliant 2007 pop." – Observer Music Monthly

"21st century Eurhythmics." – Uncut

"The missing link between Gwen Stefani and Dita Von Teese." - NME

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammy's?

Awards people tend to take themselves rather seriously and probably look down their noises at anyone out there making stupid pop designed to make people in makeup dance. Then again, the enduring popularity of the Scissor Sisters and Mika show that there is obviously a market for this kind of thing… It's just so hard to tell how the camp wind will blow. Dragonette could easily go the way of Ana Matronic et al, or find themselves opening GAY for a reformed McFly.

So is it any good?

From first drums to last refrain, this is a record which wears it heart on its sleeve. It's out of the pop closet and proud of it.

Songs about sex, with bass and beats to match are very much de rigueur in the pop world at the moment and Dragonette are certainly at the forefront of the wave. While Mika comes across as mannered, Dragonette are the genuine article. These are certainly a host of songs on Galore which have the potential to fill dancefloors with little squares of different colours. I Get Around and Jesus Doesn't Love Me Any More are as filthy as you could wish and Martina Sorbara really has the sort of pop voice which Britney Spears would probably shave all her hair off again for.

But then there are the moments where the band pushes the OTT factor too far and collapse in a sweaty mess. Single Take It Like a Man is probably the first ska electro song in music's history and will – God willing – be the last. It sounds like what we imagine one of those odd Japanese girls from Gwen Stefani videos would produce if they were let loose on Gwen's rejected album tracks – and releasing it as a single shows a lack of judgement that could cripple the band's future.

Get Lucky is also such an annoying song that it could well prevent people from getting to the second half of the album.

Which is a shame, as there are some more gems to be found as the record comes to a breathless close. Both Black Limousine and Marvellous are pop at its best, the sort of songs which make it all too easy to grab a hair bush and start singing in a way that would probably get you about a million hits on YouTube if someone filmed it on their camera phone and changed the song to a Phil Collins track.

In short, it's a hit and miss affair, but then that's the danger of this sort of music. I mean, no one has ever actually listened to a whole Scissor Sisters album and they sold about a gazillion records.

6.5/10



James Cooper