Dynamic and high-energy Heloise and the Savoir Faire, an electro dance-rock ensemble from New York, have put together a first album concocted with equal parts kitschy sex appeal, sweat, and pure charisma. This is not the first release for lead singer Heloise Williams and the group’s two dancers (Heloise drove 2004’s You Betta Rec@#&!ZE!! and released it on her own), and it shows in her confidence fronting the band and in the polish of her and her outfit’s tongue-and-cheek suggestiveness. But the album is not all kitsch—there’s plenty of raw and raucous rock ‘n’ roll that seems to draw on the big ‘80s and the more extroverted of that decade’s new wave music as a source of inspiration. Highlights of the disc include the first two tracks, “Illusions” and “Members Only,” both of which can easily be imagined being performed with an elaborate, Madonna-in-her-heyday dance number or with just a couple spirited dancers (as the sextet has), and feature a little more guitar and glam styling than standard dance-rock. On “Members Only,” humor abounds in a tale of velvet rope rejection that prompts Ms. Williams to sing the titular caveat. “Datsun 280z” is another strong selection that starts with a memorable line, “A man don’t trust nobody but me / To drive his Datsun 280z,” and uses driving as a sexual metaphor, and benefits from a short, scorching blues rock solo from guitarist James Bellizia. There’s also “On Fuego,” a tale of a vacation gone glam to a Mexican border town, and spring break spot, complete with brief mariachi horn fanfare and a clever, roll-off-the-tongue line containing a rhyme for Tijuana. And “Givin’ U the Bizness” stands out for its detailing of work-place hi-jinks, using the following words that don’t normally get the rock treatment to paint the picture: e-mail, dictation, virus protection, firewall, CEO, rolodex, Reply to All, BCC, paper jam, and operating system. It’s always worth mentioning when Blondie’s Debby Harry sings on a track. Here she contributes to two, “Downtown” and “Canadian Changs,” the latter a slightly electronic tune to which Harry lends a breathy, sultry vocal of the refrain “We want music, modern music.” All in all, Heloise and company prove they have musical savoir faire and certainly know how to have fun, assembling a CD rife with sweaty, solid synth lines and rhythmic, pulsating guitar and bass work. A listen to this record requires getting ready for the dirty, the grimy, and the plugged-in—all given a cheeky spin by Heloise herself.
--Andrew Palmacci [April 28, 2008]
