Montreal's
Malajube are like an indie rock Dr. Frankenstein. On their debut album
Trompe-l'Oeil they construct a sound out of scraps left over from other bands and come up with an appealingly strange hybrid. An inventory of parts used in the creation of
Malajube's monster would read, in part: some
Flaming Lips-style weirdness, a dash of
Radiohead majesty, traces of early
Mercury Rev's kitchen sink approach to recording, some
Arcade Fire drama, a bit of post-punk à la
Franz Ferdinand and tiny scraps of chamber pop iconoclasts like
Sparklehorse,
Sigur Rós and
Mew here and there. It sounds like a mess and occasionally it is, especially when the curiously flat mix turns things into a sonic mush. Much more often though, the album is a success since the band plays and sings with a furious energy throughout and takes care to always imbue their arrangements with enough surprises to keep things interesting. At their best, on tracks like the rampaging "Pâte Filo" or the woozily swaggering rocker "Ton Plat Favori,"
Malajube turn that ungainly blend of influences into a unique and thrilling sound.
Trompe-l'Oeilis a fine debut from a band that shows a lot of promise. ~ Tim Sendra