Chromeo seem to have turned over a new leaf but it's hard to believe them. Like Bill Murray in ""Groundhog Day,"" they've been rehashing their ladykiller attitude since their 2004 debut She's In Control. But on their latest release, Business Casual, Dave 1 and P-Thugg reveal their sensitive snowman-building side in an attempt to woo North America's populace of feisty indie gals.
If you're as insecure and sarcastic as I am, going on a date with someone as smooth and sincere as Dave 1 of Chromeo would be both overwhelming and unbearably annoying. I'd be more wont to have dinner with Dave 1's brother A-Trak, who doubles as a booty-shaking producer and mash-up magician.
It may be immature to compare listening to Chromeo to dating them, but in the end that is their objective: to win you over with their precise crooning and synth jabs. I'm usually too much of a cynic to be taken in by such flattery, but after a few listens I was making good use of my iTunes ""repeat"" button.
Business Casual kicks off with a break-up. On ""Hot Mess,"" sleazy synths, cow bells and a velvety bass hook reinforce a new voice: the ex. A prim British accent rebukes Dave 1, saying, ""You act like you've got nothing to lose but I've already lost my temper."" It would appear the ""Needy Girl"" showcased in the band's 2004 breakout hit doesn't need Chromeo so much anymore. Maybe Dave 1 isn't the invincible player he's made himself out to be on past albums.
Almost in an effort to gain back masculine cred, ""I'm Contagious"" is a bit pretentious, but rightfully so. A thudding bass builds up P-Thugg's Auto-Tuned hook, ""Don't stop baby / Let the music take control."" Most Chromeo songs sound the same, are danceable in the same way, but it's like fooling around with an old flame: it's still fun, if a bit routine.
""Night By Night"" picks up the baton with a beat straight out of a ""Mega Man"" soundtrack. With a French literature Ph.D. in the works (seriously) and, judging by the song's music video, dance skills to match, Dave 1 sounds like an automaton engineered to seduce the ladies. His guitar solos aren't too shabby, either. And P-Thugg is the ultimate wingman—his Auto-Tuned reassurance ""We can work it night by night"" and punctual synth interjections sharply complement Dave's airy but sometimes schmaltzy crooning.
""You Make It Rough"" is the same rocked-up 12 bar blues championed by Prince and Steely Dan—Dave 1 even references a Steely Dan album with the line, ""You've got that pretzel logic / and refuse to let it go.""
With enunciated talk-singing and cow bell fills, it seems Chromeo wants to be an electro-funk Talking Heads cover band, but they linger too long on the hook, trying to turn the song into a spacey beach jam that is hardly appropriate for two guys from Montreal.
Although the album is jam-packed with sex appeal, it ends like a mediocre date. ""Grow Up"" at once cribs from Stevie Wonder's ""Isn't She Lovely"" and Billy Joel's ""It's Still Rock and Roll To Me"" without conjuring the soul or sass of either.
So yes, Business Casual is a somewhat trite follow-up to 2007's Fancy Footwork. Yes, their nü-disco ballads are pointedly superficial and thinly produced. Yes, their brand of shallow schtick can tread dangerously close to Rick James territory. But I'll be damned if I won't dance to it after one (or three) Long Islands, or hungover on my couch in my pajamas the next morning, for that matter. Despite all their well-rehearsed moves and slick riffs, Chromeo really do want to do you right.
