The French - 'Local Information' (Too Pure)
3/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Darren Hayman and John Morrison, late of Hefner, lovelorn Brentwood troubadours (and one of John Peel's fave acts of the late-90s) return with a new band, er, The French.
As suits a record whose sleeve features pictures of cute, little toy-animals, the brittle indie-punk guitars of yore give way to pretty, delicate music-box electronica. Hayman's piercing vocal-screech as employed in the Hefner days has given way to a much subtler near-whisper, but the tales of curtain-twitching suburbia remain.
Marrying stories of relationships with continually mundane reference-points, such as delayed trains on the northern line - 'When She Leaves Me' - or learning Spanish ('The Stars, The Moon, The Sun and The Clouds') and, well, Peter Gabriel's travelling-habits, encapsulated radiantly within 'Gabriel in the Airport.'
Far less abrasive than the music of the chaps' original band, sure - but none the worse for that.
Artists in this article: The French
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