The electro-swing legends Caravan Palace are back with Gangbuster Melody Club. Review of this anticipated fifth album.
GANGBUSTER MELODY CLUB – CARAVAN PALACE
It is always with pleasure and joy that I jump into Caravan Palace’s new adventures. Their style, easy to spot anywhere, continues to evolve. Zoé Colotis’ vocals are wearing a beautiful filter that changes through the tracks. The collective mind places its first sepia tones in a not-so-distant past, at the head of a very free radio. That sound, it’s MAD, more jazz swing than electro, and very Film Noir. However, don’t panic, mentioning electro-swing is still relevant. The excellent, although more pop than what they used us to, Mirrors makes it shine, followed closely by 81 Special.
In forty-five minutes, the band proposes to go through everything they do best. And also to get into what they do now, what’s new. Fool is an incredible mix of it all. Fresh, sexy and gripping. The clear guitars, the sobriety of the track, the work in the textures for the vocals, it’s a time-stopping song. Likewise, I can’t resist the rhythm of Blonde Dynamite and its vibrant and modern excursions.
Impossible to not move or dance on City Cook either. Then, Villa Rose closes the record as it paints on the morning-after sky the reminiscences of a wild evening. The mix of genres is a recipe Caravan Palace perfects on each new track and record, and Gangbuster Melody Club is not an exception. The overall taste doesn’t change radically but just enough to keep us on our toes and stay relevant. It’s an album to explore again and again, for sure.