This is how you
call it a comeback

CSS take a badass turn on
their new record, Donkey

ONLY NATURAL: Lovefoxxx (2nd from L) and CSS

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“One of our friends, Roberta, says ‘donkey’ a lot, that’s why we named the record Donkey. It’s how she curses everyone, like, ‘Oh, you’re a donkey!’ ‘Get out of here, donkey!’ She has very funny English.”

That’s straight from the Lovefoxxx’s mouth. But beyond the humdrum origins of the title for this new record by CSS are the inspirations and motivations for its contents—seeing the world, settling in London, consulting the alt-rock canon and digging deeper than the tabloids for pop culture commentary.

The self-titled debut album by Cansei de Ser Sexy (“tired of being sexy,” quoth Beyoncé), released by Sub Pop in 2006, was embraced by audiences worldwide for its flirty, silly and savvy blend of disco rhythms, rock guitars and electro frills. Breakout hits like “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” and “Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex” (the latter thanks to an iPod ad) launched CSS from an unlikely South American export to one of the best-loved and most blogged-about party bands of the post-MySpace age.

In the spring of 2008, after two solid years of touring, singer Lovefoxxx, along with three of her bandmates—bassist/back-up singer Adriano Cintra (who also co-wrote and produced this album), guitarist/keyboardist Ana Rezende and drummer/guitarist Carolina Parra—relocated to the U.K. from their native Brazil (guitarist/keyboardist Luiza Sa chose to live in New York City). Lovefoxxx led the way to London, for love—she’s dating Klaxons guitarist Simon Taylor. The change of scenery provided the band with a new outlook, and a new musical entourage that encouraged the smoother, harder arrangements of Donkey, where Pixies-influenced guitars carry as much weight as bootylicious beats and sly lyrics.

Countering claims that this slight sonic shift is some sort of betrayal—critics have accused CSS of aping British indie bands, of rendering their sound overly slick and of undercutting their sense of fun with grim lyrics—Lovefoxxx explained to the Mirror that Donkey is in fact more CSS than CSS.

Lovefoxxx: For me, this album is very CSS. I really don’t like bands that, when they make their second album, they try to change all their mistakes, as if there were such a thing. I think this album sounds different because it’s closer to how we sound live. When we did the first record, we had no experience of what we sounded like, and even when we play the songs off the first album now, they sound closer to Donkey because everything is a bit heavier and harder on stage. Our sound guy used to work with Slayer!

Also, it’s just natural to change the subject of the lyrics. Some people say this album is very serious and dark, just like some people say that this album is very electroclash, but I believe these people didn’t hear the album. I mean, that’s very bad. We knew that people were going to ask, “Oh, how come there’s no Paris Hilton?” We thought it would be stupid to talk about the same subjects again.

Mirror: But you do mention John Waters and Absolutely Fabulous. Maybe that’s too obscure for some critics?

L: Yeah, thank you! People expect us to talk about Lindsay and Samantha Ronson, but we are not Kathy Griffin. Though we love her.

Fags and hags

M: Since we’re talking about lyrics, I noticed a line from “Jäger Yoga,” “Your mouth is stuck to 1,000 fags.” Now, I assume you mean that in the British sense?

L: Yeah, but you could take it the other way if you want. We were very addicted to watching Ab Fab and Patsy’s always smoking so much cigarettes. I think it was just the image of her face, her decrepit face smoking so many cigarettes—this is very amazing.

M: Patsy and Edina are excellent role models.

L: Yes! We just love them, they’re so cool.

M: You and your boyfriend are a cool couple too. I noticed that you included a photo of the two of you in the CD booklet. This surprised me a little, because I’ve found that most musicians who date other musicians want to keep their relationships on the down-low.

L: Yeah, but for me, there was no reason to deny the fact.

M: There are photos of you two online with each other’s names tattooed on your hips—so cute! Was it your first tattoo?

L: No, it was his first, but it was my third. One is a friendship tattoo I have with Ana, it’s part of a beer logo—we used to love the Newcastle Brown Ale but now we’re a bit sick of it because we drink it so much. The other tattoo, I don’t wanna talk about it.

Grrrl on grrrl love

M: I hear the Pixies on this record. Was this the kind of music you were into growing up?

L: My parents, they were never too crazy about music, so it wasn’t ever a big thing for me, growing up. I moved to Sao Paulo when I was 16 and I started living with five girls that I’d never seen before, and one of the girls, she was a DJ who just played riot grrrl bands. So I started listening to Luscious Jackson, Sleater-Kinney, the Donnas, Bratmobile, Bikini Kill, the Breeders. All those girl bands, really.

M: I understand you play a cover of “Cannonball.”

L: Yes, but not now! Yesterday, we were playing at the same festival as the Breeders in Madrid and we really wanted to talk to them but we didn’t know how ’cause we were just so nervous. We put all the chairs outside of our dressing room, you know, like a barbecue, but there was no barbecue. We had fruits and water and we thought, “Oh, maybe if they see us eating fruits and drinking and talking, maybe they will come and sit down.” They didn’t, but they saw that we were looking at them, and some of the girls started talking to them later on. Not me though, I freaked out, I was paralyzed. We’re playing lots of festivals with them though, so there will be another chance.

Curiouser and curiouser

M: One of your bandmates voiced frustration, as you were wrapping up touring for the last album, that the band is sometimes portrayed in a condescending tone, as foreigners with “funny English.” Is that frustrating to you?

L: I don’t think it’s frustrating. It must be curious for people. Even I sometimes think, “You know, it’s weird that we’re from Brazil.” Maybe it’s a good thing for us, in the end. You know like how, in America, people don’t accept British bands too well, and vice versa sometimes? We’re from Brazil, a country that nobody would expect a rock/pop band to come out of, so nobody has any rivals. Maybe sometimes people just like us ’cause we’re a bit awkward, and from Brazil.

M: You’ve said that you used to be a silly band, and you may one day go back to being a silly band. What did you mean by that?

L: Well, we all had day jobs before, the band was more like a hobby. It’s not that it isn’t still something we love to do, but it became serious, it’s what we do every day. We’re working harder and we have more strategies, and I think that we really imagine having the band for forever because it’s something that gives us lots of pleasure. I don’t think too much about, “Oh, in five years, how are we going to be?” It doesn’t cross my mind because everything will happen how it will happen. But if, some day, we stop for a while and then we come back again, maybe we’ll want to be very silly again, I don’t know. It’s like a living thing, you can’t predict how it will grow.