Slumber Party

Detroit rock outfit Slumber Party continues to revamp the attitudes of its '60s girl-group forebears as it bites the old sounds and chews them up with a taste of the present. The band's third release finds it holding onto the languorous guitar and detached vocals of previous albums, while introducing occasionally rousing electronic elements. On parts of 3, the women of Slumber Party seem wide awake, a welcome contrast to past outings.

"Electric Boots" is a stomping retread of Nancy Sinatra's '66 classic "These Boots Are Made for Walking." In Slumber Party's version, the psychodrama is a lot more ominous, and the turns of phrase less corny, though just as frankly put (Sinatra: "You keep saming when you oughta be a-changin'"; SP: "To see you treating her so kind/ It should turn my eyesight blind"). Still, for a Slumber Party song, it's downright energetic. Following that, "No Sleep Tonight," with its rock trope refrain "Here comes the night," is giddy and convincing: We'll be up as long as it's dark out.

By the time we get to "Your Friends," however, that sad, loping Slumber Party beat starts to come on, enhanced as it is by a synthetic rhythm part. It's nice, even if the steady, thumping drums remind us of the hangover that accompanies dawn. Soon enough, we're singing along, "I'm in trouble baby." As the song comes to a close, we hear the phone ring: "It's the cops," one of the girls announces to giggles. Maybe it's time to quiet down. No wonder the album changes to a more somber, spent (and familiar) mood. The second half of 3begins to drift off into the past, but it's Slumber Party's past, one that's been established over a string of confident, if melancholy, releases that can hold their own alongside most other bands' first three albums. But just as we're about to head off to sleep, the penultimate song, "Behave," with its horns, tambourine, and siren-guitar, threatens to get the party started again. That is, until "Why?" follows it like a lullaby. Something old, something new, something borrowed, lots of blue: That's Slumber Party for you.