review

by Tim Sendra

La Casa Azul's third album is their slickest, catchiest, most non-stop fun and frolicsome album to date. Which is really saying something considering how brilliantly pop! their first two albums (and the subsequent singles and strays collection) were. Guille Milkyway, the man behind the curtain, is a master of whipping together the sunniest, happiest styles of music (60's pop, disco, 8-bit, Motown, ELO, dance pop) together into a sleek and spotless sound. Never moreso than on La Polinesia Meridional. The songs sound like they were created by a computer and assembled by machines in a pure white light laboratory, but not in a mass produced, clinically soulless way. Not at all. It's more like he's a mad (happy?) scientist working in isolation to create the perfect mood-altering drug, one that will make every day feel like sunset on a warm beach. The experiment is a complete success because that's exactly what Milkyway has done here. Whether grooving lightly (with fake turntable scratches) on the title track, frugging wildly under strobe lights ("Colisión Inminente (Red Lights, Red Lights)"), rocking out video game style ("Europa Superstar"), or glittering under blue skies Love Boat disco-style ("Una Mañana"), every song on the record has a light, sprightly feel that will lift the spirits of anyone lucky enough to hear it. Every single song sounds like a perfect world radio hit; the singalong choruses, giant hooks, and super shiny surfaces are almost oppressive in their bright non-stop cheeriness. Unless that's exactly what you crave and don't mind, even demand, your music to be relentlessly sunny, happy, and free of serious intention. If that sounds like your thing, La Polinesia Meridional is just the medication for you, and the long-lasting effects will keep you blissfully, serenely happy for days.