Peroxide pop icon Deborah Harry has talked up her band’s ninth album (their first since 2003) in terms of “keeping in the spirit of Blondie”, referring partly to its span of styles. So while an opening salvo of futuristic new wave rip-em-ups has the trademark power-pop choruses, we also get iffy musical excursions: lilting reggae-lite (La Harry flirting with a Jamaican patois on Girlie Girlie), amiable in a beach-hotel-disco kind of way, but also a problematic Latino-pop boogie and a ridiculous Gallic waltz. There’s a certain levity to all this and respect to them for not resting on their laurels; but much here skirts close to being unbefittingly naff.
(EMI; out Mon)