The Plastiscines’ first album, 2007′s LP1, had a decent amount of energy and a few good songs, but the French quartet was so in thrall to the sound of the Strokes that the album came off as an inferior carbon copy. On their second album, 2009′s About Love, the group still employs many of the elements of the Strokes N.Y.C. new wave revival sound (something they will likely always have), but they’ve opened it up and added some new approaches and sounds that make the album much more varied and more appealing. The songs that aim for the dancefloor (the super hooky “Barcelona,” “Time to Leave,” “Pas Avec Toi”) by loosening the bass and drums and adding disco ball glitter to the choruses work the best and linger in your memory the longest. The quieter songs are also a nice, new feature this time out, the acoustic guitar-led “I Am Down” and the blues-based “Coney Island” give the record some depth that their debut lacked. The songs sung in French sound the best, as the girls sound great shouting the choruses on “Camera” and “Pas Avec Toi.” They sound very confident and natural when using their native language, unlike on some of the songs in English where they sound somewhat tentative and contrived. Case in point: the embarrassing “Bitch,” which attempts to take control of the word “bitch” but ends up sounding forced and silly. The songs that fall in line with their Strokes fixation (and there are still too many on About Love) also sound forced, but not silly. They just show that the band still has some growing to do. The record is a promising step in the direction of the Plastiscines finding their own sound. If they can manage it someday, they might do something worth hearing from beginning to end. Even though About Love has some high points, overall it’s simply too spotty and under-cooked to be truly successful. – Tim Sendra