Talkie Talkie

Talkie Talkie is a triumphant follow-up to their debut. It sparkles intensely has tonnes of shiny charisma and sustains its shape while trying new things in the second half.

Drenched in swirling reverb, the atmosphere evoked by Talkie Talkie is lush and cinematic – whiffs of surf rock, loping Latin drums, and shiny, liquid guitar twangs.

The merry, danceable energy never lets up, from the meandering guitar work of Hi! to the album’s rousing finale, Let Me Cook You. Talkie Talkie sees Los Bitchos return with more polished, vivid and delightfully camp soundscapes.

It’s as if every track on Talkie Talkie is the perfect accompaniment for the inevitable action-comedy scene set in a disco: It’s too loud to talk, and everybody’s having a good time while the protagonists are hard at work.

They never clear the chateau dancefloor, and they add flashes of '80s synths on tracks like "Don't Change," video game music on "Kiki, You Complete Me," glockenspiel and fluttery effects on the mysterious "It's About Time," and a sense of urgency on the fiery "La Bomba." It all makes for a good time for all while at the same time offering to recede nicely into a groove-heavy background as needed.

Talkie Talkie benefits from a sharpening of focus even if the instrumental foursome remain determined to recombine such normally disparate elements as sun-scorched psych, Caribbean rhythms, Turkish disco and the kind of rock bravura rarely captured outside of an ’80s movie soundtrack. [Oct 2024, p.31]