Far from sounding anything like label-mates Air, there's a touch of electro-cabaret to Sebastien Tellier's latest offering, "Politics." More specifically, on more than a few occasions it manages to sound like a concept album designed with a German opera about the 80s in mind, consequently making it an unexpected and quite intriguing listen to say the least.

With grand, sweeping layers present from the outset, the feel to Tellier's arrangements and the tonality of his melodies frequently sound conspicuously like that master of concept albums, Frank Zappa (as on "Bye Bye" and "Benny"). Perhaps somewhat inevitably, then, there's an air of deliberate tackiness at hand on tracks such as "Wonderafrica" and "Mauer," filling out the width of the album with a gluttonous quality.

Yet when the more conventional moments do arrive, they're worth taking note of: the clapping, aahhh-ing snap of acoustics in "League Chicanos," the funky resonance of quasi-instrumental "La Ritournelle" (which has "summer anthem" written all over it), and the meditative, drawing strings of "Slow Lynch," may satisfy those curious enough to investigate the Frenchman's latest eccentric endeavour.

However, as a whole, it remains to be seen whether "Politics" is an eye-brow raising exercise in diverse and unusual song-writing, or rather a tongue-in-cheek experiment in Euro-trash. With closing number "Zombi" sounding like the soundtrack to the flashing neon lights of some bizarre game show, it's hard to imagine anyone giving this album repeated listening with a straight face (or a full measure of sanity).

See What You Hear.com.