Flight of the Cocnhords, I TOLD YOU I WAS FREAKY

The Flight of the Conchords, the comic folk parody duo Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, have a new album I Told You I Was Freaky. Oddly, this album is less folksy than their last one -- and less funny.

This time around, Jermaine and Brett seem to have gone the synthesizer route, coupling this with one-note jokes. There's a synth song about a lack of women at a club ("Too Many Dicks (on the Dance Floor"), a fake rap song about women checking out their, er, "Sugalumps," a list of weird sex activities (the title track) and an unfunny Bowie-esque tune called "Fashion Is Danger." These songs, and some others, seem to take a simple idea -- angels having sex, a demonic female -- and not do anything funny or clever with it.

The Conchords are talented, and there are some amusing tracks here. "Rambling Through the Avenues of Time" is a Beatles-esque psychedelic romance song with Jermaine undercutting Bret with pragmatism ("She looked like a Parisian river" "What, dirty?"). "We're Both in Love with a Sexy Lady" has the two discovering they both want the female they just met ("Was this about forty seconds ago?" "No, about forty three seconds ago"). And I Told You I Was Freaky opens with an amusing song called "Hurt Feelings" where the duo rap about everything from missing friends to uncomplimented meals to family ("the day after my birthday is not my birthday, Mum"). Alas, the weak songs on I Told You I Was Freaky match the good songs, resulting in a mediocre album.

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch