“Needy Girl”
from the album She’s in Control
2004
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A lot of what you need to know about Montreal duo Chromeo is built right into their name. The “chrome” tips us off to their penchant towards flash, veneer and the artificially formal, while the “romeo” lets us know that real lovermen lurk behind the curtain, and that it’s their human fingers tweaking out this analog bling. The word’s not necessarily coincidental proximity to “Cameo” also helps locate them as spiritual contemporaries to the electro-funk of the ’80s. Some of this aesthetic sounds familiar, sure, but as grade-A pastiche artists, Chromeo wear familiarity well.
Consisting of lifelong friends Dave 1 and P-Thugg, Chromeo was formed at the behest of Turbo Recordings head Tiga, who was already a fan of their work within local hip-hop circles and wanted to hear them try something electronic. The liquid funk workout of “You’re So Gangsta” followed. Featuring a rubbery keyboard lead, a coattails-to-the-wind saxophone solo and an accompanying remix from Playgroup’s Trevor Jackson, the single fell perfectly in sync with the burgeoning Vice City-inspired 8-bit revival.
She’s in Control, the duo’s ensuing full-length, is an ’80s-plundering scrapbook of talk boxes, gloopy synths and digital funk that, for all its contrivances, proves Dave 1 and P-Thugg to be extremely keen-eared dilettantes. From the slightly unpolished quality of the recording to its carefully gated drums, the album doesn’t simply appropriate the plasticky elements of the decade so much as it marinates in them.
Were its hooks not as strong, She’s in Control would probably come across as mechanical and calculated, but its many bright spots elevate it above being just a shrewdly timed exercise in cultural re-appropriation. The punchy “Me and My Man” opens the record with a slap-funk bassline and a flurry of canned beats, while P-Thugg heads the haters off at the pass through heavily treated vocals (“You think it’s irony/ I wish you’d try to see/ That I need someone to set me free”) before being drowned out by a barrage of percussion. Even better is the album standout “Needy Girl,“ a bright-lights-big-city cruiser that’s equal parts Hall & Oates and Mantronix. The aforementioned “You’re So Gangsta” makes an appearance, as does the rubbery funk of “Destination: Overdrive”, which houses a glorious instrumental hook and features an impressively gaudy abuse of the vocoder.
Admittedly, things do drag a bit during the latter half (especially on the aimless “Mercury Tears”, which grinds itself into the ground with an ill-advised guitar motif), but even most of Chromeo’s misfirings have something interesting behind them. Opulent in all the right ways, She’s in Control has the good sense to wear its gimmick proudly.