Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves

For years, it seemed the honored position for the record most held in reserve to turn a party around went to Beck’s Midnite Vultures. In the early ’00s, things got murky when all the alt-bands started playing nice with disco hi-hats. Now Brooklyn’s Scissor Sisters are here to claim that title with their second album, appropriately titled Ta-Dah. For years, it seemed the honored position for the record most held in reserve to turn a party around went to Beck’s Midnite Vultures. In the early ’00s, things got murky when all the alt-bands started playing nice with disco hi-hats. Now Brooklyn’s Scissor Sisters are here to claim that title with their second album, appropriately titled Ta-Dah. Their situation is ideal for any band: they’re huge pop stars who sell out arenas throughout Europe, with perennial buzz, indie and critical credibility in the U.S. Add to that the band’s unapologetic pan-sexuality—few bands could get away with the post-facial declamation of “Lights”—and you have a group in a fairly singular place. This fits with their remarkably fresh current single, “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” with its contemporary beats and ’70s sass. That sense of singularity extends throughout the record, culminating with the universally appealing booty-shaker and socially progressive closer, “Everybody Wants the Same Thing.” “I think the American response to the band has been strange,” Jake Shears says by phone on a recent tour stop. “I feel like there’s a lot more contempt for us in America, and I don’t know why. We’ve got quite a few people who love us, but we’ve got a lot of people who hate us.” Shears and bassist/keyboardist Babydaddy, the group’s primary creative linchpin, draw equally from Stax/Volt chicken-scratch guitar and Tin Pan Alley horns as they do Sweet-styled glam and the Velvet Underground’s back alley confessions. But here the band sound more consistent and relaxed. Better, Shears and Babydaddy fulfill the promise of Taco’s cover of “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” their timeless songwriting executed with a nod to technology and what makes asses shake. Take “Intermission,” a vaudevillian number in disco ragtime that feels both queeny and Queen-y, or “I Can’t Decide,” a number that recalls Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, if they’d ever recorded a murder ballad. Decked out with Jew’s harp from Gina Gershon and a marvelous banjo in the mix, it sounds like nothing else out there right now. Meanwhile, the stellar “Just Might Tell You Tonight” is a plaintive and shimmering mid-tempo declaration whose chorus blooms with a syncopated flourish of synthesizer and banjo. The banjo’s increasing importance in the band’s overall sound comes as no surprise given the album’s liner note shout-out to Paul Williams. If Elton John was the primary muse for the Scissors’ first record (a favor he returns by playing piano on and co-writing two tracks here), then it’s Williams who emerges as a significant inspiration behind Ta-Dah. Not just in the Muppet-y melodies and deliriously clever lyrics, but in the pillaged-and-turned-inside-out genres that still maintain a specific identity as a musical group. The Muppet comparison is not a facile one; think of the diversity of styles that Williams and Kenny Ascher brought to The Muppet Movie, all the while retaining their own voice. That’s the stylistic imperative behind Ta-Dah. “He (Williams) has been a big friend to the band,” Shears says. “Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve thought he was a fantastic songwriter—very overlooked and underrated in pop music. The songs he did for The Muppet Movie, Bugsy Malone and Phantom of the Paradise are all brilliant pieces of work.” The track “Kiss You Off” is the only song to feature lead vocals from the sole female sister, Ana Matronic, and it pays a specific tribute. The pulsating keyboards recall any of a number of ’70s Euro-disco hits, but in the snap of its snares, it channels the strut of Giorgio Moroder productions like Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” and Blondie’s “Call Me.” Equally Euro disco in its roots but keyed into the vibe of a different iconic songwriter, the Scissors’ eponymous tribute to Paul McCartney sounds nothing like its namesake’s music, yet lyrically approximates how Macca has expressed himself nearly 50 years. And if “Ooh” is the one notable miss among the new material, there’s still enough energetic and entertaining pop here to go around for parties and discos everywhere. “For a lot of people, the first album is very close to their hearts, so it’s strange trying to follow that up without having to repeat yourself,” Shears says. “I’m really excited to continue making music. The band has to evolve, and I think there is real evolution on this record…. It’s where the band is headed, and it’s a strange place.”