The album title for French Cassettes' new album Benzene--is neither an allusion to the dangerous fossil fuel byproduct, nor is it a nod to the anti-anxiety drug Benzos, but rather a twist on Huerta's family nickname, 'Benz'. "I wish I had a better explanation," Huerta admits. "I guess I should have Googled it first."
The self-deprecation is classic Benz, as is this crossing of the wires between the flippant and the deeply meaningful. It's one reason the San Francisco band's third album holds up so well to repeated listens. Even when influences like The Magnetic Fields and The Beach Boys peek through, Huerta's lyrical aesthetic is his own, and Benzene is packed to the gills with funny, memorable one-liners that take a twist for the heartbreaking. "My mother's mother talks in comic sans," he sings. "I will never not love her. I wish there were more emails to read."
Their last album, Rolodex, was a painstaking six years in the making, with perfectionist tendencies, anxiety and grief all playing roles in the delay. On Benzene -- recorded and produced with the band's cofounder Mackenzie Bunch and drummer Rob Mills -- they have let their proverbial hair down. And while the album bears evidence of a band more comfortable both taking risks and taking it easy, they still never miss an opportunity to do something interesting. Melodically, production-wise, lyrically: There is always room to add another hook, a new harmony, a strange sound, or a little secret handshake of a lyric.
~~~~~~~~
French Cassettes music is filled with winding melodies that pop up unexpectedly but grab hold and don't let go... and may leave you asking "who needs hands with hooks like these?"
The harmony-driven power-pop quartet's new LP, Rolodex (Sophomore LP released on Tender Loving Empire), was conceived beneath a stairwell in the band's adopted hometown of San Francisco, where frontman Scott Huerta spent months staying up until 4 am, obsessing over elaborate demos that would eventually become his band's sophomore album. "I adopted the mentality, which was probably unhealthy, that every song I wrote needed to be my favorite song," he remembers. "I lost my mind so many times in the middle of the night."
The album was self-recorded by lead guitarist Mackenzie Bunch in just about every corner of the Bay Area, and the songs that were eventually stitched together are hook-filled and rooted in pop. But they're also layered and intricate recordings: complex vocal harmonies and counter-harmonies, Rob Mills' inventive percussion, Thomas' (Scott's brother) honey-coated basslines, and every shade of clean and fuzzy guitars stacked up like an orchestra. These uncommonly majestic, esoteric pop forms serve as the perfect delivery service for Huerta's playful and verbose lyrics, which are often presented as semi-autobiographical puzzles.
Taken together, the eight tracks and 24 minutes that make up Rolodex are an epic statement of purpose in a decidedly taut package. One that brought a band back together, more mature and more ambitious than ever.
FRENCH CASSETTES play harmony-driven power-pop. The quartet's new LP, Rolodex, is hook- filled and rooted in pop, layered with intricate vocal harmonies and counter-harmonies, inventive percussion, and every shade of clean and fuzzy guitars stacked up like an orchestra. https://frenchcassettes.bandcamp.com/
show less
The self-deprecation is classic Benz, as is this crossing of the wires between the flippant and the deeply meaningful. It's one reason the San Francisco band's third album holds up so well to repeated listens. Even when influences like The Magnetic Fields and The Beach Boys peek through, Huerta's lyrical aesthetic is his own, and Benzene is packed to the gills with funny, memorable one-liners that take a twist for the heartbreaking. "My mother's mother talks in comic sans," he sings. "I will never not love her. I wish there were more emails to read."
Their last album, Rolodex, was a painstaking six years in the making, with perfectionist tendencies, anxiety and grief all playing roles in the delay. On Benzene -- recorded and produced with the band's cofounder Mackenzie Bunch and drummer Rob Mills -- they have let their proverbial hair down. And while the album bears evidence of a band more comfortable both taking risks and taking it easy, they still never miss an opportunity to do something interesting. Melodically, production-wise, lyrically: There is always room to add another hook, a new harmony, a strange sound, or a little secret handshake of a lyric.
~~~~~~~~
French Cassettes music is filled with winding melodies that pop up unexpectedly but grab hold and don't let go... and may leave you asking "who needs hands with hooks like these?"
The harmony-driven power-pop quartet's new LP, Rolodex (Sophomore LP released on Tender Loving Empire), was conceived beneath a stairwell in the band's adopted hometown of San Francisco, where frontman Scott Huerta spent months staying up until 4 am, obsessing over elaborate demos that would eventually become his band's sophomore album. "I adopted the mentality, which was probably unhealthy, that every song I wrote needed to be my favorite song," he remembers. "I lost my mind so many times in the middle of the night."
The album was self-recorded by lead guitarist Mackenzie Bunch in just about every corner of the Bay Area, and the songs that were eventually stitched together are hook-filled and rooted in pop. But they're also layered and intricate recordings: complex vocal harmonies and counter-harmonies, Rob Mills' inventive percussion, Thomas' (Scott's brother) honey-coated basslines, and every shade of clean and fuzzy guitars stacked up like an orchestra. These uncommonly majestic, esoteric pop forms serve as the perfect delivery service for Huerta's playful and verbose lyrics, which are often presented as semi-autobiographical puzzles.
Taken together, the eight tracks and 24 minutes that make up Rolodex are an epic statement of purpose in a decidedly taut package. One that brought a band back together, more mature and more ambitious than ever.
FRENCH CASSETTES play harmony-driven power-pop. The quartet's new LP, Rolodex, is hook- filled and rooted in pop, layered with intricate vocal harmonies and counter-harmonies, inventive percussion, and every shade of clean and fuzzy guitars stacked up like an orchestra. https://frenchcassettes.bandcamp.com/
The album title for French Cassettes' new album Benzene--is neither an allusion to the dangerous fossil fuel byproduct, nor is it a nod to the anti-anxiety drug Benzos, but rather a twist on Huerta's family nickname, 'Benz'. "I wish I had a better explanation," Huerta admits. "I guess I should have Googled it first."
The self-deprecation is classic Benz, as is this crossing of the wires between the flippant and the deeply meaningful. It's one reason the San Francisco band's third album holds up so well to repeated listens. Even when influences like The Magnetic Fields and The Beach Boys peek through, Huerta's lyrical aesthetic is his own, and Benzene is packed to the gills with funny, memorable one-liners that take a twist for the heartbreaking. "My mother's mother talks in comic sans," he sings. "I will never not love her. I wish there were more emails to read."
Their last album, Rolodex, was a painstaking six years in the making, with perfectionist tendencies, anxiety and grief all playing roles in the delay. On Benzene -- recorded and produced with the band's cofounder Mackenzie Bunch and drummer Rob Mills -- they have let their proverbial hair down. And while the album bears evidence of a band more comfortable both taking risks and taking it easy, they still never miss an opportunity to do something interesting. Melodically, production-wise, lyrically: There is always room to add another hook, a new harmony, a strange sound, or a little secret handshake of a lyric.
~~~~~~~~
French Cassettes music is filled with winding melodies that pop up unexpectedly but grab hold and don't let go... and may leave you asking "who needs hands with hooks like these?"
The harmony-driven power-pop quartet's new LP, Rolodex (Sophomore LP released on Tender Loving Empire), was conceived beneath a stairwell in the band's adopted hometown of San Francisco, where frontman Scott Huerta spent months staying up until 4 am, obsessing over elaborate demos that would eventually become his band's sophomore album. "I adopted the mentality, which was probably unhealthy, that every song I wrote needed to be my favorite song," he remembers. "I lost my mind so many times in the middle of the night."
The album was self-recorded by lead guitarist Mackenzie Bunch in just about every corner of the Bay Area, and the songs that were eventually stitched together are hook-filled and rooted in pop. But they're also layered and intricate recordings: complex vocal harmonies and counter-harmonies, Rob Mills' inventive percussion, Thomas' (Scott's brother) honey-coated basslines, and every shade of clean and fuzzy guitars stacked up like an orchestra. These uncommonly majestic, esoteric pop forms serve as the perfect delivery service for Huerta's playful and verbose lyrics, which are often presented as semi-autobiographical puzzles.
Taken together, the eight tracks and 24 minutes that make up Rolodex are an epic statement of purpose in a decidedly taut package. One that brought a band back together, more mature and more ambitious than ever.
FRENCH CASSETTES play harmony-driven power-pop. The quartet's new LP, Rolodex, is hook- filled and rooted in pop, layered with intricate vocal harmonies and counter-harmonies, inventive percussion, and every shade of clean and fuzzy guitars stacked up like an orchestra. https://frenchcassettes.bandcamp.com/
read more
The self-deprecation is classic Benz, as is this crossing of the wires between the flippant and the deeply meaningful. It's one reason the San Francisco band's third album holds up so well to repeated listens. Even when influences like The Magnetic Fields and The Beach Boys peek through, Huerta's lyrical aesthetic is his own, and Benzene is packed to the gills with funny, memorable one-liners that take a twist for the heartbreaking. "My mother's mother talks in comic sans," he sings. "I will never not love her. I wish there were more emails to read."
Their last album, Rolodex, was a painstaking six years in the making, with perfectionist tendencies, anxiety and grief all playing roles in the delay. On Benzene -- recorded and produced with the band's cofounder Mackenzie Bunch and drummer Rob Mills -- they have let their proverbial hair down. And while the album bears evidence of a band more comfortable both taking risks and taking it easy, they still never miss an opportunity to do something interesting. Melodically, production-wise, lyrically: There is always room to add another hook, a new harmony, a strange sound, or a little secret handshake of a lyric.
~~~~~~~~
French Cassettes music is filled with winding melodies that pop up unexpectedly but grab hold and don't let go... and may leave you asking "who needs hands with hooks like these?"
The harmony-driven power-pop quartet's new LP, Rolodex (Sophomore LP released on Tender Loving Empire), was conceived beneath a stairwell in the band's adopted hometown of San Francisco, where frontman Scott Huerta spent months staying up until 4 am, obsessing over elaborate demos that would eventually become his band's sophomore album. "I adopted the mentality, which was probably unhealthy, that every song I wrote needed to be my favorite song," he remembers. "I lost my mind so many times in the middle of the night."
The album was self-recorded by lead guitarist Mackenzie Bunch in just about every corner of the Bay Area, and the songs that were eventually stitched together are hook-filled and rooted in pop. But they're also layered and intricate recordings: complex vocal harmonies and counter-harmonies, Rob Mills' inventive percussion, Thomas' (Scott's brother) honey-coated basslines, and every shade of clean and fuzzy guitars stacked up like an orchestra. These uncommonly majestic, esoteric pop forms serve as the perfect delivery service for Huerta's playful and verbose lyrics, which are often presented as semi-autobiographical puzzles.
Taken together, the eight tracks and 24 minutes that make up Rolodex are an epic statement of purpose in a decidedly taut package. One that brought a band back together, more mature and more ambitious than ever.
FRENCH CASSETTES play harmony-driven power-pop. The quartet's new LP, Rolodex, is hook- filled and rooted in pop, layered with intricate vocal harmonies and counter-harmonies, inventive percussion, and every shade of clean and fuzzy guitars stacked up like an orchestra. https://frenchcassettes.bandcamp.com/
show less
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