HOT NEW BANDS ON WINSTON'S ZENDAR
Not many bands can claim such a varied international heritage as L.A based The French Semester. Consisting of well travelled New York born Indian, Riaz Tejani, who named the band after his time spent studying in Paris, a Mexican percussionist, a Vietnamese bass player, and and English drummer, The French Semester are proclaiming themselves the start of ‘immigrant rock’. And who’s gonna argue with them?
You might think a clash of such diverse influences is likely to cause a miss-matched arrangement, a sound that’s not sure what it wants to be. But that's delightfully not the case with The French Semester. These boys have absorbed their influences and combined them skilfully into tunes that speak in a recognisable tongue and reference their American indie present, rather than their disparate pasts.
The French Semester turn a trade in sun-baked, lo-fi Californian pop melodies, cleverly melded with intelligently abstract lyrics and warm sugary vocals to produce a laidback, cobbled-together sound that hides the complexity of their songs and sounds like The Beach Boys got young again and invited Grandaddy round to play.
Check out the excellent Arrowheadings taken from forthcoming album Open Letter to the Disappeared below, and then rush over to Last.fm to download this and two more tracks FREE.
The French Semester - Summer Face
The French Semester - Winter Song
Back soon, as always
Winston
Winstons' Zen
Not many bands can claim such a varied international heritage as L.A based The French Semester. Consisting of well travelled New York born Indian, Riaz Tejani, who named the band after his time spent studying in Paris, a Mexican percussionist, a Vietnamese bass player, and and English drummer, The French Semester are proclaiming themselves the start of ‘immigrant rock’. And who’s gonna argue with them?
You might think a clash of such diverse influences is likely to cause a miss-matched arrangement, a sound that’s not sure what it wants to be. But that's delightfully not the case with The French Semester. These boys have absorbed their influences and combined them skilfully into tunes that speak in a recognisable tongue and reference their American indie present, rather than their disparate pasts.
The French Semester turn a trade in sun-baked, lo-fi Californian pop melodies, cleverly melded with intelligently abstract lyrics and warm sugary vocals to produce a laidback, cobbled-together sound that hides the complexity of their songs and sounds like The Beach Boys got young again and invited Grandaddy round to play.
Check out the excellent Arrowheadings taken from forthcoming album Open Letter to the Disappeared below, and then rush over to Last.fm to download this and two more tracks FREE.
The French Semester - Summer Face
The French Semester - Winter Song
Back soon, as alwaysWinston
Winstons' Zen
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