NOUS NON PLUS; "Menagerie," (Aeronaut) ★★★
Nous Non Plus is a high-energy jazz-rock-and-pop group that records songs in French and English.
The group is led by Paris native Celine Dijon (real name Verena Wiesendanger), and surprisingly, she is the only French native. The rest of the band is from New York.
Still, that doesn't lessen the charm of the band's second CD, "Menagerie." In fact, it strengthens it.
The 13 songs on "Menagerie" show the band's progression with French ditties, mixed with a sort of punk-rock attitude.
Sass and swagger come into play with "Lola," "Catastrophe," and the school-boy fantasy, "French Teacher," sets the tone for the CD, which was produced by Dan Crane, who is known in the band as Jean-Luc Retard.
Cabaret textures and sharp musicality thread the songs together, making the listener anticipate the remaining songs.
Nous Non Plus, which means "Neither do we" in French, has a campy classic with "Menagerie."
E-mail: scott@desnews.com