Long before the CD has come out of the plastic, Louis XIV makes their intentions known. The album‚s cover art, of a nude woman with the song titles written down her back, and the accompanying book of photography, all of the cover‚s model submissively lying about for the band members in lingerie, are both good indications of the material covered in the album‚s ten tracks. True Love is Blind, one of the album’s more offensive tracks, features the chorus: “Hey chocolate girl well you‚re looking like something I want/And your little Asian friend can come if she wants.” As the song goes on a choir of doll voiced females coo, “Wind me up and make me crawl to you/Tie me up and make me call to you.”
As the album goes into “Paper Doll” singer Jason Hill goes on to intstruct, “Pull up your skirt a little bit/Pull down your top and show me a little tit”. On “Pledge of Allegiance” a disturbing chorus of female voices pops up again, this time releasing mechanical sexual moans, straight out of a porno. Much like the woman displayed in their photos, the band sees not an actual human as the object of their lust but rather a plastic blow up doll with sound effects.
Music wise, Louis XIV takes a lead from the past echoing the Rolling Stones and T Rex, a few tracks however come off more like good imitations of tracks from the latest White Stripes‚ album. While bands taking their lead from rock‚s past often pen songs referring to “girls” who are naughty and nice, Louis XIV come on too strong, creating numbers smarmy with objectification and misogyny.
On God Killed the Queen, one of the albums more palatable songs the band finally manages to pull off their sexual heat with a bit more grace. By using George Michael tinged lyrics and a fast chorus minus any disembodied doll voices, the band starts to show more than just a glimmer of promise. While the band can rock, it would do them good to try penning songs that deal with more than their crotches.
As if answering later to the album’s blatant hard on, “Pledge of Allegiance” includes the line “She says come on boy/ Aren’t you tired of talking about sex/And I said little girl come on what do you really expect?” Clearly if you’re expecting anything more, you’ve come to the wrong place. |