“When the Nazis marched on Paris, the French were quite embarrassed…” sings Art Brut front man Eddie Argos, kicking off his side project’s album. The opener, ‘Creeque Allies’, is a jaunty retelling of the WWII French Resistance that sounds like the indie approximation of a Terry Deary ‘Horrible Histories’ book and is the cheeriest song about Nazi occupation you’ll ever hear.

The namesake references stop there and Argos and collaborator Dyan Valdes of The Blood Arm retread the usual relationships, twenty-something angst and popular culture references of Art Brut in his usual spoken singing style, all under one concept – replies to other pop songs, showing the other side of the situation.

This fresh idea’s invigorated Argos and the songs are urgent, intelligent pop with big spiky hooks jutting out of every orifice. ‘G.I.R.L.F.R.I.E.N.’ is as catchy as Avril Lavigne’s original advances and hilariously picks the flaws in her abrasive forward attitude.

Of all the sugary pop though, it’s the understated, quiet and blunt beauty of breakup song and Dylan response ‘Think Twice (It’s Not Alright)’ that stands out. Argos, as ever, gets to the heart of the matter with some glorious lines – “I think you wanted clean cut and goodbye, well I fucked that up when I started to cry…Every now and then we’ll sneak a look, or spy on each other through MySpace and Facebook. I hope you don’t find a way, to see how many times I view your page.” To top it off, it also has the best harpsichord riff this side of the Renaissance.

-T

G.I.R.L.F.I.E.N.

Think Twice (It’s Not Alright)