Jury Still Out on Trashy t.A.T.u. ("Halifax Daily News" - Canada) Time of publication: 09.03.2003 |
The latest Eurotrash sensations to try their luck in the North American musical market place is the Russian female pop duo t.A.T.u. Lena Katina and Julia Volkova’s debut CD, 200 KM/H in the Wrong Lane has already topped the charts on the other side of the pond fuelled by a kiss-and-tell, lesbian-tinged video for the hit song All The Things She Said.
Whether they make any headway on the more conservative Canadian and U.S. charts will be determined over the next couple of months as their record company, Interscope/Universal, gives them a big market saturation push.
While the video has caused controversy, the group’s rather thin album — eight English songs, two Russian and a couple of remix and “bonus-behind-the-scenes-DVD-footage-tracks” — has some unexpected strong points. The young women’s voices are supple and expressive, and their slight accents are exotic and appealing.
Better yet is the material. Machine-tooled by a trio of Russian songwriters in collaboration with legendary English producer and musician Trevor Horn (Video Killed The Radio Star), the original selections on the album all make good use of the girls’ keening voices. Building on a tough, danceable electro-pop foundation with flashes of industrial dance textures and punctuated by the occasional dark tinge of goth guitars and keyboard washes, 200 KM/H in the Wrong Lane sounds sleekly up-to-date and, at times, innovative.
Malchik Gay, for example, is driven by a call-and-response chorus line that adroitly adapts what sounds like a Russian folk tune, transforming it into a space-age pop song full of longing and desire. While Show Me Love riffs off a famous Swedish teenage makeout movie, Not Gonna Get Us and the hit All The Things She Said are sterling examples of relentlessly catchy and sophisticated Europop.
One of the strangest moments on t.A.T.u’s debut, however, is the cover of England’s jangle-pop masters The Smith’s mid-’80s landmark How Soon is Now. The song’s lurking Bo Diddley beat, sense of claustrophobia and lingering melancholy have been updated to suit Lena and Julia’s bleating vocals. It’s an audacious and surprisingly effective move that proves t.A.T.u. is far more tasteful and intelligent that the average pre-packaged girl and/or boy band.
Still, the whiff of instant exploitation seems to linger throughout the smooth grooves of most of 200 KM/H in the Wrong Lane.
The group may have come out of the gate quite strongly, but in the wake of the ruins left by the Spice Girls, the Backstreet Boys and the rest of their ilk, music fans have the right to be skeptical. Looks like the jury’s still out on this perky and provocative Russian duo.
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