During the three years between
Dragonette's second album,
Fixin' to Thrill, and its follow-up,
Bodyparts, the band stayed busy, releasing the remix album
Mixin' to Thrill and collaborating with
Kaskade,
Don Diablo, and
Nicola Roberts. Oh, and they also released their biggest hit single to date, the Juno Award-winning
Martin Solveig collaboration "Hello," which had a flirty immediacy that took their appeal to new heights. "Hello" isn't on
Bodyparts (it appeared on
Solveig's 2011 album Smash) and nothing on this album has quite as much obvious hit potential as that track, but at least some of its shine seems to have stayed with the band. "Let It Go" feels like a dance floor anthem in the making; "Riot" nearly matches "Hello"'s chopped-up antics (with plenty of charm in its own right) and "Live in This City"'s brash, brassy fun makes it an obvious single in the best possible way.
Bodyparts also finds
Dragonette continuing the advances they made on
Fixin' to Thrill by capitalizing on
Martina Sorbara's growing versatility as a vocalist. Now she brings womanly introspection, as well as girlish sass to the table, and even if she's disowned her solo work as a singer/songwriter (with the vivid insult "tampon music"), she still knows when to bring that sensitivity to her pop project.
Bodyparts' bookends, "Run Run Run" and "Ghost," are as vulnerable as they are glossy, recalling the more introspective turn
Goldfrapp took on A&E. This is the first self-produced
Dragonette album and on their own, their music is smarter but also slightly less immediate when compared to most of their more instantly catchy contemporaries; true to form, they don't really deliver the head-nodding goods until later on
Bodyparts, starting with the robo-sexy clubbing tribute "My Legs." From thereon out,
Dragonette kick it up several notches with the cheery, combative "Giddy Up," which comparison fodder
Gwen Stefani would be happy to call her own; the fittingly sleek "Rocket Ship," which is disco-friendly and entendre-laden enough to do
Scissor Sisters proud, and the glammy bounce of "My Work Is Done," which finds
Sorbara delivering some of her loosest, most appealing vocal work yet. With each album they've released,
Dragonette have become more confident and focused, and
Bodyparts is no exception; it should please not only longtime fans, but those won over by "Hello" -- though it might leave some listeners hungering for something quite as undeniable as that single. ~ Heather Phares