Album Review: French Exit
Refreshing. Relaxing. Cynical. These are all words that can be used to describe TV Girl and their music, especially the album, French Exit. The way the band describes the album is "12 songs about lost lust, too much love and not enough". Despite that, the songs hold very airy, warm moods, with classic indie pop vocals, paired with somewhat unconventional “glitchy” beats, vintage sounding samples, and a strange, almost detached mood at times.
Resoundingly, the most popular song on this record is “Lovers Rock”, though I discovered the band through a similarly popular track, “Birds Dont Sing”. The energetic, soft drums beats, optimistic, light and wonderous melodies, along with the melancholic sample and lyrical contents is exciting and heart wrenching. The group has a very similar feeling to another favorite of mine, Men I Trust, which also has a very summery vibe, which is nice, especially in the dead of Alaskan winter.
”Birds Dont Sing” is very similar to “Lovers Rock”, though in my opinion, much more upbeat, contrasting it’s much more cynical content, the speaker reflecting on a relationship ended abruptly over what seemed to be some immaturity on the speaker’s part, though his response is very petty and resigned. It features a really nice trumpet accompaniment, and signature glitchy, distant sounding samples.
A few other honorable mentions from the album are “Pantyhose”, “Come When You Call” (a fantastical sounding track), and “Anjela” (a very backhanded and reminiscent track.)
I’d give the album as a whole a solid 8, maybe 9 out of 10. Well done, nicely crafted, the rest of their discography deserves a shoutout in itself. I’d also check out The Night in Question: French Exit Outtakes and Who Really Cares.
As always, thank you for reading.
Additionally, join me to hear some of the track I review and more, on Mondays at 9:30-10 PM on my show, Untitled 01.