Brazilian Girls: New York City

Brazilian Girls' frenetic live shows have earned

the New York trio a reputation as beat-happy party-starters, but there's a

litany of other elements roiling around in their multicultural stew. The group's

previous album, 2006's Talk To La Bomb, bandied about dub, bossa nova, post-punk,

and other international influences in the service of sophisticated,

multilingual club music; its follow-up, New York City, draws again from those

elements, but in new permutations that tend to lean even more toward the loungey

end of the spectrum. The formula works in fits and starts, hitting the mark

when the group allows some quirky touches to work their way in amid the

sheen—the catchy whistling on "St. Petersburg," or the haunting

sparseness of "L'Interprete," for example. At times, the album flounders a bit

in the persistent sonic flourishes that threaten to overshadow Sabina Sciubba's

arresting voice, but those noodley moments are buoyed by a couple of excellent

dance tunes, "Losing Myself" and "Good Time." Such feel-good moments of abandon

keep New York City

from becoming too hopelessly chic, resulting in a party album that manages to

sound grown and sexy without being alienating.