Neimo - 'From Scratch' (Big Fields) Released 07/08/06

‘Strip For Me’, the opening song on this, Neimo’s debut album shows the four young Parisian lads to possess a typically Gallic mastery of 80s electro; being a pounding hard tune, of squalling synths and bass, not dissimilar to Les Rhylthemes Digatales (Yes, we know he wasn't really French.) Lyrically it’s a different story, however, a bordering-on- the- sexist command: “It’s time to show me what you got / Strip for me …..no time to argue/ I won't let you ” Ooh  ha la la certainly, but aren’t the French supposed to be bit more sophisticated when it comes to these things? All poetic romantic musings whispered by intellectuals smoking cigarettes in pavement cafes? 

Next track ‘Hot Girl’ is as you might imagine more of the same – ”Hot girl/ so sweet and sour/ so spicy baby / you got me on my knees.” The electro edge is still there but the driving force is very trad pub rock, with a hint of Jet if anyone. Still, 'Strip For Me' and 'Hot Girl' would probably qualify as guilty pleasures. They're fun, enjoyable, smart groin - directed pop fun like say NERD's similarly straight talking ‘Lap Dance’. 

Much of the rest of the material is aimed in a similar obvious direction with tracks like 'Blow My Mind' and 'Now That Got Me'. Unfortunately nothing else offers the same enjoyment as the first two. The lyrics are increasingly over simplistic rubbish such as "Information/mutual admiration/ magic shampoo /Yeah/Yeah/Yeah / We're all the same under the Sun " from ‘All The Same’. To be fair they're not singing in their native tongue but their lyrics certainly put the dumb into what musically is pure dumb rock. The electro element is never really used to levitate the music beyond the forgettable verse chorus boring song structure. There's one moody Gary Newman style electro instrumental passage on ‘Encyclopaedia’, more of which would have made the album a whole load better.

They cover (Noooooooo!) Lenny Kravitz, for the final track and they do ape his squawking guitar/shout along chorus style on tracks like 'All The Same'. Their 'Are You Gonna Go My Way' is too faithful to the original to make it arresting. Different lyrics and a different tune would have made it more palatable to this writer. Just not a fan, sorry. The only decent tune beyond the first two is the title track which marries a guitar part like David Bowie's 'Suffragette City' to a catchy Green Day style pop punk tune. 

If you’ve only ever heard Air, Daft Punk and Phoenix this album might make you feel you had a falsely high opinion of the brilliance and sophistication of French music.