Lederhosen Lucil

Our hoser fraulein returns, with a sophomore record that shows off more of what's going on behind those flaxen braids. While her debut burst the seams with its aural candy, this one is a subtler beast, nibbling at your ear with multilingual acuity. Not as instantly hooky as Hosemusik, it is more polished musically — and the sexy inter-textuality is subtler and more gratifying. It has a broader range as well, assimilating hip-hop in a much more sophisticated manner and delighting in (gasp!) the occasional guitar solo. Es ist wirklich ein demented polyglot's delight, with rantings about genetically modified food en francais, and a German pseudo electro-house anthem that is in fact one of the deeper songs on the album. There are also, surprisingly, a few tasty slow jams. With less overt keyboard flash this time around, the emphasis is on her versatile voice, ably mimicking a certain notorious trashpunk diva, the princesses of Ladytronica, and even sounding spookily like Nelly Furtado. Those who yearn for the instant gratification of the last record should skip to the second half of this one, which delivers the catchy loopiness Lucil is celebrated for. Mmm, Das schmecks!