Malajube's Labyrinthes

After invading the US sometime in 2007 French Canadian indie rockers Malajube began to make headway here with their record, Trompe-Loeil. Crossing the border and our country more times than they could count the band eventually retreated back to the Great White North to begin working on their third album. Two years later these crazy bunch of Canucks have emerged from recording hibernation and released their latest declaration of independence, Labyrinthes.

Unlike Trompe-Loeil, Labyrinthesis not nearly as frenetic or as animated. Instead, Malajube have taken things in a decidedly more laid back art pop direction. The end result is an album that, while not as overly energetic as their last album, is still upbeat. The difference between the two lies in how the band now has a certain sense of the power that a grandiose pop song can have. Utilizing pianos, mid-paced tempos, repetitive choruses, huge song structures and just the right amount of quirkiness Malajube have stumbled upon their inner pop star and written a consistently good record. Think Stereolab with the Arcade Fire and a bit of Of Montreal and you might catch a glimpse of what Malajube are after this time around.

Much of Labyrinthes has a casual elegance about it that comes off as an easy, breezy, and perfect summery sort of record. This is a record that's literally quite the opposite of their last effort in just about every way. Labyrinthes is far a more stable, passive, and thought out record and shows how Malajube is maturing into something that is greater than the sum of their parts. A song like "Les Collemboles," for example, is the perfect amalgamation of everything that Malajube has come to stand for. The song is an arty tune that jangles and then jumps it's way across your stereo with breezy then crunchy guitar lines, a repetitive piano break and a melodic sense of lyricism that even in French will stick in your head for days. Like much of this record, "Les Collemboles," is a perfect combination of art and pop and even when it blasts off into far noisier territory at the end the song still holds your attention in a psychedelic fade out that's nearly epic.

Simply put, Malajube have done it again. Rather than just making another quick blast of indie rock, this group of wayward Canadians have slowed themselves down and made a record that's sweepingly good and heads in the exact opposite direction of their previous efforts. Labyrinthes is an impressive record that's filled with tons of melodic pop in a language that you probably can't understand, but the international language of good song writing takes over and makes it extremely listenable. Hooray.