The Trial of the Century (CD)
Follow-up to their album, One Time Bells. With The Trial of the Century, the French Kicks reduce and concentrate their formula into an even more potent concoction, distilling elements of guitar rock, synth pop, and Motown soul along with the earnest and endearing vocals of Nick Stumpf. The Trial of the Century is a challenging record, one that begs listeners to shake off the cobwebs of garage rock hysteria and wrap their noggins around some truly unique and abstract approaches to the four-minute ditty.
"The French Kicks have managed to wrestle free of typecasting to produce music that's uncharacteristically sophisticated and upbeat, with carefully crafted vocal melodies in a vaguely 60s soul-group style and jangling guitar." --Edward Helmore, Vanity Fair
| Tracklisting | |
| Disk | 1 | |
| 1 | One More Time |
| 2 | Don't Thank Me |
| 3 | The Trial Of The Century |
| 4 | Oh Fine |
| 5 | The Falls |
| 6 | Was It A Crime |
| 7 | Following Waves |
| 8 | You Could Not Decide |
| 9 | Yes, I Guess |
| 10 | Only So Long |
| 11 | Better Time |
| Stafford, Matt
- New York, NY, USA |
| I'm not sure why this record isn't being played everywhere. I picked it up last summer and it's been at the top of my heavy rotation playlist ever since. The French Kicks have never made a bad record, but they have never made one quite so good. The Trial Of The Century finds the Kicks exploring new territory, venturing further away from the raw Marcata sound that characterizes their earlier records. The main difference? Harmony and Melody. This is an album that you want to sing along to.
The album opens with "One More Time," an urgent piece of indie-pop gold, driven by a pumping circus organ flanked by a Korgis-esque synth and a throbbing bassline that prods the song onward. The title track is another gem: a sincere, almost duotonic edxample of elegance in simiplicty. "Following Waves" and "Oh Fine" are other noteworthy tracks, beautiful for their directness.
But there aren't any tracks here that don't deliver the goods. The French Kicks don't mess around on this record. The songwriting is superb. The sounds are clean and interesting for the almost old-fashioned lack of special effects. There is no posing, no deliberate snarls, no pointless or intentional obfuscation, and no riding on the coattails of hipper, older, proven cult heros or revisited fads. The Trial Of The Century works for itself. The French Kicks have arrived. | |
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