Luna members Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham began to work on L’Avventura after the 2002 release of Luna’s Romantica. This album does not conjure up the spirit of the Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood or Serge Gainsbourg/Jane Birkin (Brigitte Bardot too) duets as it claims (There are very few duets between Phillips and Wareham). Instead this side project provides well-chosen covers (Madonna, Buffy Sainte Marie, Silver Jews and The Doors), duets and originals. The opening track, ‘Night Nurse,’ a song about British medication, features breathtaking cinematic orchestration from producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie and T-Rex) while Phillips and Wareham sings “Sleep together, the milky way/Sleep forever, and a day/Lovely jewels of joy design/La-la-la-la.” Everything is set in motion for the rest of the album. ‘Ginger Snaps’ has more of a disco beat with goofy but sexy lyrics. Then there’s Madonna’s ‘I Deserve It’ is a stand out song where Wareham delivers his best strength.

One listen to ‘Out Walking’ and ‘Your Baby’ and recollections of Mazzy Star will come to mind. Phillips does her best Hope Sandoval impression on both songs and its astoundingly decent. Also many of you might not know this but Phillips did vocal works for Jem and the Holograms, the popular 80’s cartoon. The original, ‘Knives from Bavaria,’ a non-duet penned by Wareham but sung by Phillips is faintly heartrending and is etched in your mind at the end. L’Avventura ends admirably with ‘Indian Summer,’ a lesser-known Door’s song. Overall, L’Avventura is more of a shimmering breezy soundtrack to have playing in the background and could easily fall into the indie-pop make out album of 2003 or 2004.