Everyone’s favourite Brazilian pop stars CSS are back with their fourth full-length release, Planta.
Since their previous LP La Liberación, they’ve adjusted their lineup to hold only female members, as well as forming partnerships with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong and TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek to maintain the vast range of styles they’ve always been notorious for.
In comparison to their previous releases, Planta is as fun as it is simple. Lead single “Hangover” contains the unique hooks CSS are famous for: cheeky lyrics, catchy synthlines, and the ever-addictive foreign accent.
Unfortunately, though, the majority of the songs on this album aren’t gripping enough to get caught in your head nearly as long as their previous released tracks such as “Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above” and “Music Is My Hot Hot Sex”.
With almost every lyric relating to romance, being in love, and being heartbroken, it seems that the now four-piece are less a band writing about life and more a girls club discussing their previous love interests.
This is initially easy to enjoy, but gets a little tiring throughout the album.
Conventional instruments are incredibly minimal within this album, having replaced by boppy synths and drum machines. This means that there’s no real reference to the Brazilian’s well-loved attitude, apart from in fiery track “Dynamite”.
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Overall, Planta is a bit of a let down. It showcases what their fans adore about them – that being their unique lyrical wordings, fun attitude and huge array of sounds – but not in the way that’s brought them success before.
Let’s just hope that this is a dip in their execution of their talents, and they’ll be back producing songs that stick in your brain soon enough.
