by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Singer/guitarist Julien Mino is soft-spoken over the phone - you can almost hear the poor fella squirm as he's forced to talk about his band. To his credit, he doesn't really have to soapbox Malajube. Everybody seems to be doing the job for him.

Based on their live show and a ragtag demo, Malajube had indies and major alike come a courtin', but after the dinner bills were paid Malajube chose to jump into bed with local label Dare To Care. "We've been friends with them for a long time and we knew we could do everything with a handshake deal, and that's what we were looking for," explains Mino.

No wonder these Montrealers were getting so much attention. Their new, debut album Le Compte complet is a near-perfect pop record. Like Brian Wilson's gems, Malajube's songs display an equal balance of quirky naïveté and clarity of vision and maturity. Take the song "La Maladie" - based around a waltz beat, the song finally gives way to the maelstrom of distorted vocals and electronic treatments, all realized within the minute-and-a-half framework. "Le Metronome" is saccharine-coated strychnine, while the unlikely turns of "Le Bataillon" seem to be tapped directly from the noggin of XTC's Andy Partridge.

Being a great band is all well and good, but Malajube's talent couldn't ask for better timing either, as anglo fans are proving more open to music sung in other languages than ever. Singing in French (save for the hidden track on the CD), Malajube, much like Les Georges Leningrad and Le Nombre, leap linguistic borders and can boast about having just as many anglo fans as they do québécois. Their infectious pop has even won the ears of the fickle U.S., as the record is starting to move units down south.

"I don't know who's buying it there, but somebody in Nebraska is listening to a French record and I never saw that happening at all," says Mino. "I think right now, more than ever, a lot of people from English backgrounds are showing up at shows where the lyrics are in French. It's a really positive time Montreal is in right now."

CD launch with guests the Hot Springs and Call Me Poupée at Café Campus on Monday, Feb. 14, 8:30 p.m., $8.50

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