Music Review: Nous Non Plus, “Menagerie” (Aeronaut)

Rating: 70

Until a few years ago, the enthusiastically sleazy-suave fake French band Nous Non Plus was known as Les Sans Culottes, but following the ouster of atonal warbler Clermont Ferrand and a federal court battle, Ferrand got the name and the rest got their freedom. “Menagerie” shows this cheeky band hitting its stride melodically, still mining ‘60s French pop for influences but with bursts of originality and a clear desire to push beyond the sound of Roger Vadim soundtracks.

Propulsive new wave tracks such as “Loli” and “Catastrophe” are the first signs that something new is afoot, leading the way to a rousing cover of the Unicorns’ “Tuff Ghost” (translated as “Fantome Dur”). And there are times when Nous Non Plus drops most of its pretenses on the lovely folktronica track “Sunlight Yellow Noise,” indicating a true desire to move beyond kitsch.

Still, the kitsch is fun, because much of the last half of “Menagerie” is straightforward Serge Gainsbourg/Jane Birkin pop, complete with shuffle beats, flutes, vibraphones and Francophone come-ons. It might be impossible to take a band seriously when its members boast stage names such as “Celine Dijon,” but why so serious?