Review: Caravan Palace /

<I°_°I>

Rating: 4 Stars (Silver)    * * * *

The frontrunners of the electroswing movement over in France include names like Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace.  The latter has released their third studio LP, the first since 2012's "Panic".  "<I°_°I>"  (pronounced phonetically as "Robot") takes a different direction from the group's previous efforts.  Gone are is the gypsy dance style of 'Brotherswing' and the hardstyle grind of 'Clash'.  Instead this might be their most volatile work yet, which is saying a lot with Caravan Palace.  On one hand we have the bounciness and indecipherable lyrics of 'Comics' and the thumping 'Tatoos', and the other we have have the mellow chugging along funk of 'Wonda' and 'Human Leather Shoes for Crocodile Dandies'.

Caravan Palace have been pros of mixing catchy dancable beats with soul catching melodies and it shows on this record.  My favorite moments are the instrumental breakdowns such as the backmasked vintage sounding synth on 'Comics', the beautiful piano chords in the bridge of 'Tattoos', and the chopped and manipulated saxophone on 'Lay Down'.  As always it is difficult to tell whether certain instrumental layers are live playing or electronically sequenced, as well as whether theyre even performed or sampled.  It's one of the groups little fun mysteries.  '<I°_°I>' is also much more pop friendly, with more emphasis on bombastic vocals than Panic or their self titled debut.  While this could easily be offensive to a longtime fan, here it is done rather tactfully and done with restraint, as most of the album is fairly sparse vocally aside from subtle vocal bits that are difficult to make out.

With its highly unconventional name, <I°_°I>  is a fantastic third effort from Caravan Palace.  No complaints here.