Justice - Woman (2016) [Hi-Res]

Stylish nostalgia is the pan et beurre of a lot of French dance music, including -- for better and worse -- Justice's third album. Arriving five years after Audio, Video, Disco, Woman is built on layers of fondly remembered vintage funk and disco, pre-EDM French Touch, and Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay's own work. The duo lead with the most broadly appealing side of their music: with its choral vocals and popping bass, "Safe and Sound" sounds like a slowed-down version of "D.A.N.C.E." with a hint of roller disco, while the gleaming synths and chugging rhythms of "Alakazam!" and "Fire" keep going like perpetual-motion party machines. Individually, these tracks are a lot of fun, but taken together, they give the impression that the pop whimsy and prog metal tangents of Cross and Audio, Video, Disco are strengths Justice preferred to leave in the past. Just when it seems Woman is consistent to a fault, Augé and de Rosnay bring some of that weirdness back to their music without derailing their grooves. The luxe vocals on the aptly named "Chorus" lend some oddball '70s sci-fi majesty to its gritty beat (and the final track, "Close Call," adds to the impression that Woman is secretly the soundtrack to a space fantasia). Meanwhile, "Heavy Metal"'s frantic counterpoint has as much in common with Audio, Video, Disco's metal fixations as it does with kitschy classical pop. "Randy," which features vocals from longtime contributor Morgan Phalen, blends chugging guitars and strings courtesy of the London Contemporary Orchestra into one of the album's finest examples of genre-mashing; similarly, the breezy "Love S.O.S." proves the duo's range remains. Even if Woman sometimes sounds more like two EPs than a cohesive set of songs, it's still an enjoyable album -- especially when Justice use their flair for looking back creatively.