Girls still just want to have fun

Brazilian Girls

New York City (Verve Forecast)

ESSENTIAL "Good Time"

Talk about overachievers. "New York City" is the third album in four years from the party-hopping Brazilian Girls. And sultry, too-cool-for-school frontwoman and fashionista Sabina Sciubba sings and sighs in no fewer than five languages. The band's been shaking up the East Village with its danceable, multicultural beats for some time, and on this musical homage to the Girls' hometown, the trio jumps between genres and samples rhythms from several Big Apple (and world) neighborhoods with club-thumping success. The album bumps from electronica to cabaret to jazz and back again; it's busy but never feels schizophrenic. Senegalese singer Baaba Maal contributes soaring vocals to the infectious throwdown "Internacional." "L'Interprete" finds Sciubba channeling Feist in a rare, contemplative moment. But the record really grooves when the Girls let down their hair and have some fun: "Good Time" is an anthemic sing-along set to handclaps, lilting synthesizers, and laughter. "We just want to have a good time all the time," Sciubba sings. Don't we all? [Courtney Hollands]

The Brazilian Girls play at the Paradise Rock Club Thursday. Tickets are $28, $26 in advance, at www.livenation.com.