It's customary for
Justice to release a concert album at the end of each of their tours, but with
Woman Worldwide, they add a twist: instead of releasing an especially inspired live set, this time
Xavier de Rosnay and
Gaspard Augé recorded the arrangements they came up with for
Woman Worldwide in the studio. While
Woman Worldwide might be missing some of the audience energy of a true live album, it keeps the focus on
Justice's formidable skill at mashing up sounds. Using a decade's worth of albums and remixes as fodder,
de Rosnay and
Augé are at the peak of their mixing powers, combining their body of work with architectural precision and coming up with dynamic new forms along the way. As they reinvent "Safe and Sound" and "D.A.N.C.E." into an impressive opening salvo, they balance Woman's streamlined approach with the crowd-pleasing energy of Cross. Indeed,
Justice's debut album provides the glue that holds together several of
Woman Worldwide's standouts, whether it's the duel of "Heavy Metal x DVNO" or the complex layers of "Waters of Nazareth x We Are Your Friends x Phantom 2," which also throws in the duo's remix of
Simian's "Never Be Alone" for good measure. As head-spinning as the mixes can get -- "Pleasure x Newjack x Civilization" spans nine years of the duo's career within minutes --
Justice's meticulous craft never detracts from the excitement of these new juxtapositions of familiar sounds. A celebration of the duo's music,
Woman Worldwide rewards fans who want to delve into its musical connections as well as those who want to get lost in its momentum. ~ Heather Phares