Blonde Redhead (Italian twins Simone and Amedeo Pace, and Japanese onetime art student Kazu Makino), met in the Sonic Youth section of New York City to play music devoid of cultural, let alone dimensional, borders. The MELODIE CITRONIQUE EP finds the trio adapting a couple of songs from their 2000 full-length CD MELODY OF CERTAIN DAMAGED LEMONS into new languages, adding a brand new song in Italian to accompany both a cover of French lounge legend Serge Gainsbourg and a remix.
The result is a joyfully incoherent melange. "In Particular" (which becomes "En Particular") is a wandering, disjointed piece of off-kilter pop majesty. The other French representative, the Gainsbourg cover "Slogan," is a perfectly dreamy translation of a dreamy song. "Hated Because of Great Qualities" was already charmingly loopy, and the added syllables of the Italian "Odiata Per Le Sue Virtu" add an even more spellbinding effect. "Chi E E Non E" is a surprisingly simple slice of folk, and the pared-down remix of "For the Damaged" (with the new title "Four Damaged Lemons") offers a fitting end to an album of fitful dreams.
