French Kicks remind us of a specific time in Brooklyn’s history. We’re not going to get Kokie’s nostalgic on you, but we could, even though they never quite fit in what was happening at that time. Good for them. The New York quartet are back with a new album Swimming, their second for Vagrant. They produced and mixed it themselves. They did a good job, judging from the elegant pop cloudiness of the lead track “Abandon,” which subtly folds hand claps, strings, and instantly familiar riffs into guitarist/vocalist Josh Wise’s daydreaming. It pairs nicely with that new Notwist tune.
That opening, jagged guitar line is really sweet. It’s like post-punk for cocktail hour. Though, to be honest, and while we’re on the topic of libations, the drink-infused album art reminds us of Pottery Barn. Or a strip-mall Japanese restaurant. See below. Otherwise, kudos.
Swimming is out through iTunes on 4/1 and in stores on 5/20 via Vagrant. They’re going on tour soon. More dates TK.
4/01 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
4/04 – Boston, MA, @ Middle East
4/05 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
4/08 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
4/15 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
4/24 – Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
4/25 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
4/26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
4/27 – Asheville, NC @ Bald Eagle
5/15 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
5/16 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
5/18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
5/19 – Sacramento, CA @ Blue Lamp
5/22 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
5/23 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
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this band is so boring.
i sorta feel bad for these guys. seems like they’ve been going at it forever. I like their songs, but yeah it sort of seems like they lost their chance back in the strokes hey day
Haha, i remember for 2 years all i wold listen to was “one time bells” and “this is it”. So it’s funny to see the comparison.
i always intentionally forget about this band until i hear the song “piano” again…
maybe it’s my mood right now, but this sounds a bit more promising than what’s happened since the aforementioned.
i don’t want to live in a world where french kicks isn’t massively successful. and by massively successful i mean drinking champagne from the shoes of prostitutes every tuesday.
Holy shit…. They are in SF the same day as Bay to Breakers. That’s going to be one long fucked up awesome day. I hope I make it that long.
i was obsessed with ‘one time bells’ back in the day, then kind of lost track/lost interest…this song makes me happy, though – will have to check for the new album.
I personally think these guys make some smooth stuff. On their first album they sounded like NYC rock fad-chasers, but every one since that has had some songs I really grew to love. They’ve got their own style.
NICK is pretty foxy!! I told him that one night in Baton Rouge years ago.