French youngsters Tahiti 80 have sprung, full-blown, from the head of Serge Gainsbourg to deliver their debut full length, a nearly perfect pop gem. Actually, that Gainsbourg reference isn’t altogether fair. The band’s press kit mentions him -- probably because he’s the one example anyone can cite of French people making palatable music. Tahiti 80 are nowhere near as sultry as Gainsbourg; that’s simply not their game. Instead, they make clean, addictive, beautiful pop music.

Mixing guitars and tasteful keyboard with expanded instrumentation (including trumpet from guest musician Eric Matthews), Puzzle also offers Xavier Boyer’s sweet vocals, occasionally processed until they meld into the synth (you know, that Cher thing). At times, Boyer’s voice has an uncanny similarity to Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier’s; also like Stereolab, Tahiti 80 obviously has a hefty sense of irony, disguised as wide-eyed naiveté. Their irony comes in their ability to design something that is obviously impossible these days: smooth-as-glass pop songs, intelligently and artfully created. No one can sound this sweet and be this good at it unless, on some level, they don’t mean it.

But let me reverse myself again. Maybe they can, if they’re French. There’s so much about French music-making none of us understand. All I know is, whether or not Tahiti 80 are being disingenuous, they’ve made what is, so far, my favorite CD of the summer.