As mentioned last week, the French Kicks have a new album out today, and it’s a banger. The band has gone through a bit of a shuffle, losing a founding member and co-releasing the album on two labels, but have kept their unique sound and playful ingenuity.
Right off the bat, Two Thousand grabs you, spotlighting drums over guitar on “So Far We Are.” Its incredibly catchy, and although the stutter-step of the drums during the chorus threw me for a loop at first, it shifts up what would otherwise be probably the most straightforward track on the album. The third track, “Cloche,” is grounded by trademark vocals by Nick Stumpf that would not be out of place on the band’s first album, One Time Bells. But in true form, the French Kicks continue to explore different layouts, instrumentation and themes. Built around a guitar line that sounds like it was culled from the introduction of a traditional Hawaiian song, it comes together as a mature follow up to Trial’s “Oh Fine.”
But for me, the highlight is “Keep It Amazed,” which features a Jane’s Addiction “Been Caught Stealing” nod in the opening “Hey alright / If I get by” line. Don’t look so surprised. I love the reference, and while I can’t entirely follow the story of the song, I sense that the concept is derived from ‘Caught Stealing’ through the metaphor of the sexual relationship as a ‘petty crime.’ The track starts off at a brisk pace, but builds and develops as it goes. This is one of the most alluring aspects of the songwriting; tracks like “Basement D.C. build from one winding theme then quickly transform into something totally different by introducing a new melody over the original. And the drums! Compare the drums on any of their earlier work to the drums recorded for Two Thousand. On “Keep It Amazed,” they seem to explode almost like a Secret Machines track.
I have to admit, though… before checking out the album, I became concerned after seeing a lengthy review of the album posted at *Sixeyes, that basically labels it as formulaic and uninspired. Now, the writing on *Sixeyes is top-notch, but I wonder why the reviewer, JP Swenson, spends his time going in track-by-track only to make the same single-listen, surface-level comments each time. Much as I thought The Trial Of The Century was criminaly underrated (case in point), to label the album as ’safe’ is to disregard the delicate pop-gems throughout. JP is right, their sound is consistent. The repeating piano on “England Just Will Not Let You Recover” can be traced back to “Piano” off of the Young Lawyer EP. But what is great about Two Thousand is the way that the band has taken the playfulness of their earlier albums and EP’s, and have honed them into something enduring and focused.
In many ways, I like the new album for the same reasons that I like The Trial Of The Century. But while Trial was a big leap forward from their earlier work, so too is Two Thousand a jump foward musically. The production has created a deep layering of instrumentation between the guitars and keys, where your attention is constantly being drawn from one element to another. The album is inspired and shows the Kicks as a seasoned musicians crafting what is quite possibly their best work to date.
: French Kicks - So Far We Are :
: French Kicks - Keep It Amazed :
Agreed!
Thanks for the kind words concerning my writing, but the French Kicks review was written by one of a number of new contributors to Sixeyes. I want to give credit where credit is due, that piece was written by JP Swenson.
Thanks for visiting *Sixeyes, we all appreciate the readers.
Alan
pitchfork ripped these guys again. i just don’t get it. I think that both this and the trial of the century review are really weak.
alan: sorry i didn’t notice that the review wasn’t written by you, i’ve adjusted to give proper credit.
to review the pitchfork reivew: walkmen comparisons are the lowest common denominator of french kicks reviews. they are friends, great, but they sound different and have both broken off in different directions. and how is it that for some reason the negative reviewer can note the “focused snippets,” but doesn’t seem able to put his finger down on any examples of the “homogenous” sound. if the reviewer finds the album boring, then they either didn’t give it a chance or aren’t the right person to be reviewing it in the first place.
by the way, the “1,000 monkeys chained to 1,000 guitars” line at the end is as nonesensical as it is obtuse. someone is trying a little bit too hard to be a witty reviewer but (unlike the album in question) it comes off forced and borderline guitarded.
he also focused a whole lot on the ‘tired’ new york garage revivalist scene…which i would argue they left behind with the last album. i find it really hard to compare their current sound with that of the strokes, interpol, etc…all of those comparisons, walkmen included, are really lame.