Brazilian Girls' frenetic live shows have earned
the New York trio a reputation as beat-happy party-starters, but there's a
litany of other elements roiling around in their multicultural stew. The group's
previous album, 2006's Talk To La Bomb, bandied about dub, bossa nova, post-punk,
and other international influences in the service of sophisticated,
multilingual club music; its follow-up, New York City, draws again from those
elements, but in new permutations that tend to lean even more toward the loungey
end of the spectrum. The formula works in fits and starts, hitting the mark
when the group allows some quirky touches to work their way in amid the
sheen—the catchy whistling on "St. Petersburg," or the haunting
sparseness of "L'Interprete," for example. At times, the album flounders a bit
in the persistent sonic flourishes that threaten to overshadow Sabina Sciubba's
arresting voice, but those noodley moments are buoyed by a couple of excellent
dance tunes, "Losing Myself" and "Good Time." Such feel-good moments of abandon
keep New York City
from becoming too hopelessly chic, resulting in a party album that manages to
sound grown and sexy without being alienating.