La Femme’s newest release, Teatro Lúcido, is a delight. The creative culmination of years of traveling through Spain and Mexico, Lúcido proves to be yet another fantastic album from the French psych-pop outfit.
Lúcido, sung entirely in Spanish, didn’t completely come out of left field, at least not linguistically. "Le Jardin" was the band’s last Spanish-language track, from last year’s album Paradigme, and the band’s been pretty public about their travels and recent influences. And ultimately, Lúcido is a fantastic blend of pasodoble and reggaeton influences with the band’s usual French psych-punk style
My biggest recommendations include the opening track “Fugue Italienne,” an instrumental highlight of the album, the more overtly sonically influenced “Y Tu te vas,” and “Sacatela,” the first single La Femme had released for this album and one of Lúcido’s unquestionably best tracks.
Another highlight is the accompanying music video for "Sacatela." The whole video is hilarious and clues pretty much everyone in on the “joke” of the album, with its myriad sight gags and refusal to take the song or video itself too seriously. That same sense of humor is present throughout the album, too, of course, though the language barrier may throw many off. Even then, the intentional tonal and stylistic juxtaposition between songs is sure to clue anyone in.
Overall, an absolute treat. Strongly recommend this one to nearly everyone, especially those who can’t stand the language barrier, reggae, or modern psych-rock-pop.
