By taking a quick glance at the cover of ...Nous Non Plus' self-titled debut album—which features a nearly naked female torso wearing red underwear which a slim finger seductively lowers—you can probably figure out that this band has nothing against using gimmickry to get attention. Their sound is no exception: though they met in Rhode Island, formed in New York and are mostly Americans, they play and sing as if they are a long lost late '60s French Pop band.
...Nous Non Plus play the High Noon Saloon tonight, and considering their sugary vocal harmonies, bouncy melodies and irrepressible excitement, there are certainly worse ways to spend $5. Though ...Nous Non Plus do little to distance themselves from their influences, with music as fun and infectious as this, who cares?
Their album kicks into high energy with the frothy ""Lawnmower Boy."" On this song, the three lead singers of ...Nous Non Plus—Celine Dijon, Jean-Luc Retard and Bonnie Day—blend their gleeful vocals together against a garage rock-lite beat, and the end result is so much more fun than a song so derivative has any right to sound.
""Tant Pis Pour Toi"" is what the New Wave revival might sound like if it were targeting the Kidz Bop audience instead of the college crowd—but that's not a bad thing. ...Nous Non Plus' inoffensive sound—one that references New Order and Orange Juice but takes all the sharp edges off—is exactly what makes them so convincing. They are the kind of band no one could reject on the ""Is that racket supposed to be music?"" grounds, and that was exactly what the French yAc-yAc pop movement they are recreating was all about.
""Monokini"" might as well be the soundtrack to a zany chase scene in a psychedelic screwball comedy from the '60s, with its driving, bouncy beat, wacky horn section and cheeky vocal delivery. The song might not be more than a quick thrill, but it's a helluva diversion. The same could be said for much of ...Nous Non Plus. Is this band going to change your life? No, but neither are most of the bands people say will. So go ahead, drop an Abraham Lincoln, go to the High Noon Saloon tonight and enjoy yourself.
