French Wives - Me Vs. Me Single Review

A week or so after I reviewed Halloween/Dogfight, the first single by French Wives, I commented that "those French Wives songs are still wedged in my head". Roughly seven months on, they still are. Seriously, at times it's been a little embarrassing, as I've been sitting on a bus or train, idly staring out a window, then realised I'm humming, whistling, or worst of all having a wee sing to myself of Halloween in particular. Still, that does a good job of keeping the nutters away, since the assume you are one too.
It's nice then to have some more songs by the band to try out, although from its appearances in live sets Me Vs. Me is already familiar enough to me that it makes the occasional appearance on my mental shuffle list too.

Obviously then there's a scary amount of love for French Wives round my way (hm, should maybe rephrase that actually, or I'll get some very disappointed visitors coming in off a dodgy google search...) so you if you suspect that this review will pretty much be me telling you to buy the single you wouldn't be far wrong.

So, we've established that I a) like the band and b) like the single, but why? Well, Me Vs. Me does loads of things I like in a song. Pace changes, some nice guitar jangles, cheeky bit of violin, sing along lyrics, and does all the sweepy building to a crescendo stuff that makes me go "oooh". Plus, Stuart Dougan has a cracking voice.
Not only that, but listening to Me vs. Me a handful of times on repeat has brightened up an otherwise pretty dreadful day, which is just grand.
Hyndland Weather Bear on the b-side (read a wee bit further down for more on this song) is a more quiet, fragile affair. Simple, understated, but no less gorgeous than the A-side.

Love the band, love the single, and make no apologies for my very fanboyish approach, sorry!

You can still listen to B-side Hyndland Weather Bear, and watch a wee video, in the post here, but hurry, I'll be taking down the stream when the single comes out.

French Wives: MySpace - Facebook

Me vs. Me is available from May 17th on CD and download. You can preorder it here.
French Wives play a launch gig at Glasgow School of Art on May 14th, and an instore gig at LOVEmusic (the shop formerly known as Avalanche) in Glasgow on May 17th.