Lindstrøm & Christabelle
Real life is no cool
Smalltown Supersound
The 80s sitcom that runs in Lindstrøm's head must be a good one. His punchy pianos and retrofitted synthesizers don't just wink and nod to some tinny ancestor, they're as at home in the era as the TV families that materialized behind the electro-cheese of their theme songs. If that's true, then "Real life is no cool", Lindstrøm's album with seductive Norwegian-Mauritian songstress Christabelle might as well be "Family Matters". Lindstrøm is the whitewashed theme, and Christabelle a young Laura Winslow, the pristinely beautiful center of attention. But while "Family Matters'" stiff and unsexy theme may be the most ill-matched theme of all time, Lindstrøm has no problem relating to Christabelle -- his retrograde stylings are an oddly synchronous fit for her breathy delivery. Nowhere is this faultless latticework more noticeable than on "Keep it up" and "High and low", two songs that tower above the album. On these, Christabelle's ineffable sexiness reigns supreme. Lindstrøm's vocal production here is a sort of anti-social enabler: the subtle cracks and pops of Christabelle's half-whispered consonants actually succeed at creating an air of intimacy. That's a massive compliment given that it's a dance album. So "High and low" and "Keep it up" are the consummate singles: they've got enough holdover from the spacey futurism of 2008's "Where I go you go too" to please the diehards, and enough short-form nostalgia to seduce the iTunes generation. But elsewhere on the album, Lindstrøm's backwards gaze becomes pure pastiche. "Baby can't stop" is an MJ retread without the slightest hint of distinction, and "Lovesick"'s Survivor bassline is just that -- a Survivor bassline. Ultimately, though, this album comes as good news to those of us who found Lindstrøm's earlier work too inscrutable or too lengthy for consumption. "Real life is no cool" distills Lindstrøm to sitcom-sized morsels of dance music deeply invigorated by the smoky sensuality of Christabelle's vocals.
- Nathan Keegan
