LIBERATED: CSS
Aug 30, 2011
The Brazilian band conquers its "Spanish phase" (and bad bosses) on La Liberación.
BY SELENA FRAGASSI
"It's going to happen at some point," says Lovefoxxx. The pint-sized and always colorful singer of Brazilian jungle pop quartet CSS lets out a soft chuckle into the phone receiver, giving away the irony of her inside joke. "All the big pop artists go through their Spanish phase: ABBA, Madonna, Toni Braxton. And we like to think this is ours."
Of course, this is not the first time CSS has borrowed from the influence of a Top 40 pop star. After all, the band's name - CSS is an abbreviation for "Cansei der Ser Sexy" - is in homage to Beyoncé, a translation of the bootylicious singer's declaration that she grew "tired of being sexy." But to compare the troupe's third album, La Liberación, to, say, Evita is a bit off the map.
"Okay so with us things are always a bit distorted," Lovefoxxx finally admits, "our Spanish song [the title track] is actually a punk rock song. We have Spanish guitars in ‘City Girl,' but it has nothing to do with Spanish influences. Oh, but ‘Ruby Eyes,' that was inspired by some dialogue from Volver [Pedro Almodovar's film]." Soon this dissertation becomes dissected into something of a mismatched Picasso, but that's the great thing about CSS - there's not just one way to look at them.
Even looking at the album title, the first one named in the band's native language, for some sort of clues becomes a bit tricky. "We didn't pick it; it came to us," Lovefoxxx declares. "We were going back and forth with different ideas for the title and when this name came up, we stopped and said, ‘This is amazing.'
"When we were making this album last year, we were in a really good and positive place," she continues, pointing to internal problems during the time of Donkey, CSS's 2008 release that brought with it a deluge of collateral damage from poor management decisions after wild international success began with their 2005 eponymous debut, helped by the iPod single featurette, "Music is My Hot Hot Sex."
"I don't think it's too relevant to go back to all of that drama again," Lovefoxxx cautions before divulging, "we went through some really bad management on the first album and that touring cycle. And as a result, we were left with many, many problems that we had to solve."
And solve they did, branching off from long-time label Sub Pop Records and signing a licensing agreement with V2 outfit Co-operative Music for the new album, which was released jointly by V2, Co-operative and Downtown Records.
"One benefit was that we had plenty of time to make this record," says Lovefoxxx, noting that La Liberación was started in February 2010 after a nearly year-long creative hiatus during which time each of the five members was living around the world, Lovefoxxx DJ'ing in various cities and bassist Adriano Cinta fostering a soundtrack company, the studios of which were used to make the new album. "We reworked songs countless times to the point where they'd have completely different lyrics and melodies. If we didn't love them 100%, we'd change them. In the end, these are all songs we really like."
MP3: "Hits Me Like a Rock (Depressed Buttons Remix)"
Within the mix is disco dub opener "I Love You," Rasta-rave number "Echo of Love," the hyper catchy first single "Hits Me Like a Rock" (featuring Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie), riot grrrl anthem "Fuck Everything," and the jazzy standout "City Girl," which features a perfectly-timed horn section... and a revealing backstory.
"I always wanted to belong to the big city, to the metropolis," says Lovefoxxx with a tone that lets you feel some distant skyscraper scratching at the surface of her wanderlust voice. "When I was 13 my brother really did move to New York City. He went there to practice Aikido and was living in a dojo. I remember the first weekend he was there, my parents and I called him and I asked him, ‘how is the city?' and the first thing he told us was that everybody walks really fast."
Having outgrown her small town outside the district of Sao Paulo, the singer remembers how inspired she was by the story of the marathon pedestrians of NYC, a city that still gives her butterflies every time she visits. So, she adopted their habit. "I started walking really fast too because I thought people would look at me and wonder, ‘Oooh, who's that girl, where is she from?'"
Where she was actually from, people bullied the young fashionista for her now trademark outlandish getups and hairstyles. "I used to wear really crazy outfits and have big hair and people would go out of their way to mess with me and scream things at me out of their cars," she says, invoking the lyrics of the song's chorus, "and all I really wished is that no one would give a shit and not care."
Yet people do care, albeit now in a good way. With CSS conquering not only album charts but the minds of impressionable young fans, Lovefoxxx is that globetrotting trendsetter she always aspired to be. Just take one look around the crowd at a CSS show and the neon jumpsuits, facepaint and asymmetrical hair are dead giveaways; although the hipsterettes who will undoubtedly rip through thrift stores and American Apparel racks in advance of the band's upcoming tour are going to be in for a surprise. Lovefoxxx has gone ... boy-ish.
"At this moment, I have a more masculine outlook," the Peggy Noland accomplice confesses. "I've been wearing the catsuit for such a long time, and I thought it was a good time for me to get rid of them and wear something else. So I'm going back to my roots. Shorts and T-shirts, what I wear normally. And you know what, it feels really good to play in jean shorts and band T-shirts. I'm no longer a slave to the one-piece."
She may have seen La Liberación of the catsuit, but Lovefoxxx recalls it wasn't so long ago that she was shackled to fashion when working for yet another bad manager - at a large department store.
"I had to take photos of the clothes and crop them and upload to the store's website. But the people there were really boring and bad - like the guy who stole our money."
And so instead of actually working, Lovefoxxx would punch in and log online, updating her Fotolog page and interacting with its community. "I would spend the whole day on the Internet, commenting on photos and thinking of really smart things to say. Many people that I'm good friends with today I met on there. I even met Ed from Grizzly Bear on Fotolog!" In turn her own page brimming with images of found objects and portraits of girls and dogs became wildly popular, even though Lovefoxxx herself admits, "I don't know why it became so famous."
Although she still photographs with her Yashica G4, Lovefoxxx suddenly turns her attention to video, saying that the next step for the band to conquer after La Liberación would be to take further artistic liberties with a DVD, but in only a way CSS could love.
"Like recording a show, a really crappy show in someone's living room."
[Photo Credit: Andreas Konrad]
CSS will begin a North American tour on October 1 in Vancouver and tour through the end of the month. Go to the band's official website for the list of dates (and downloads of exclusive tour posters).
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