Single Review: French Wives - Halloween/Dogfight

Still got limited computer access, still got the attention span of a goldfish, still job hunting without luck. Due to all that I'm ridiculously behind in reviewing things I've either bought or been sent. One day I'll catch up.

Grabbing something randomly from the "to do" pile throws up the debut double A side single from French Wives. Confusingly they aren't French, and I don't think any of them are wives either. Instead, they are a five piece from Glasgow who have been gigging their wee hearts out for ages now.

Bringing us to this, the debut single, due out next Monday.
Cunning timing then, considering that one of the songs is titled Halloween. It isn't, by the way, a cover version of The Misfits song, even though that would have amused me greatly. Neither is it scary. In fact, it's quite a jolly wee number, with a violin, xylophone and some brass, alongside some jangly guitar and nice harmonies. It's a well crafted wee number that builds, soars, and does other things that make me sound pretentious. After all that soaring and building, there's a strong finish too, which is always handy. As always, my description does the song no justice at all.
The other A side, Dogfight, isn't miles away from Halloween, but is shorter, more direct, and catchy as heck. Nice is a terrible way to describe a song but yeah, this is nice. There's a summery feel to both songs too, which is perfect for times like now, when you are freezing cold and it is pitch black outside.

Sounds a bit like a jaunty My Latest Novel, but just a bit. There's some Aberfeldy, some Camera Obscura, even a bit of Belle & Sebastian in there too. If you likes those bands, you'll almost certainly like French Wives. If you don't, go have a listen to them anyway and stop being so judgmental will you?

For the purposes of reviewing I listened to these songs a few more times tonight and now they've taken up residence in my head and don't seem to want to go away. That makes them highly recommended then.

The single is out next Monday, October 26th, on Instinctive Racoon Records.

French Wives MySpace

French Wives play Bloc in Glasgow on Wednesday 21dt October with the also worth checking out We're Only Afraid Of NYC, before playing The Admiral Bar on the 25th as part of Oxjam Takeover.