CD Reviews

Yelle | Safari Disco Club

Barclay Records (2011)

By CARRIE BATTAN | March 31, 2011

2.0 Stars

In the four years since French electro queen Yelle released her debut, Pop Up, a gaggle of comparable female dance-pop characters — from Gaga to La Roux to Robyn — have made their way into the spotlight. And they do what the fun-loving, bubble-gummy Yelle does, but in English, more memorably and more extravagantly, robbing her girlie gig of the novelty it once possessed. What remains on Yelle's sophomore effort is a bunch of well-produced, disco-tinged, catchy-as-hell French electro-pop tunes that sport no distinctive characteristics whatsoever. Worse, these tracks are virtually indistinguishable from those of Pop Up — the closest she comes to experimentation is with an industrial horror-movie-style synth line on "Mon pays" and a brief, tepid, dubstep warble on the final track, "S'éteint le soleil." Safari Disco Club is unlikely to find itself in the speakers of many dance parties on this side of the Atlantic in coming weeks. But at least Yelle has gotten a head start on the irrelevance that a Robyn or a Katy Perry may soon experience.

Topics: CD Reviews , Music, Disco, Pop, More

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