Pick

Lindstrøm & Christabelle Real Life Is No Cool

• Words: Shawn Reynaldo
• Label: Smalltown Supersound
• XLR8R Rating: 9.5/10

After hearing Where You Go I Go Too, a three-song, 55-minute opus, one might not expect Lindstrøm to follow it up with a pop-disco collaboration like Real Life Is No Cool. As it turns out, the Norwegian superproducer has been intermittently working with Christabelle since 2001 and all the years of back-and-forth were clearly worth it, as Real Life is simply stellar. While traces of Lindstrøm's usual space disco dot the landscape, the album incorporates an '80s disco-funk vibe that perfectly suits Christabelle's loose and sultry vocal stylings. From the vocoders and horns of "Baby Can't Stop" to the woozy synths and boy-girl vocal foreplay of "Let It Happen" to the sexy strut of "Lovesick," Real Life is a carefree delight.