Anyone who has been listening to music for more decades than they care to remember, as I have, can always hear echoes of the past in even the most modern of music. And that is certainly the case with the new one from French Inhaler, “TV LOVE.”
But that is fine, certainly not a criticism; it’s just how things work. Even the most revolutionary music is built on the structure, sound, and style of what has gone before… or as a deliberate reaction against it. And with “TV LOVE,” it is those brooding Cure-esque basslines and New Order-alike vibes that provide the engine room and energy here that sound like a flashback to my own formative years.
These timeless sounds are then drenched in the digital equivalent of C86 melodies, bright, upbeat, infectious, and as cutting-edge as that scene was back in its own day, and without wanting to labor the point, there is something very “Inbetween Days” about some of the more washed keyboards sounds…steal from the best, that’s what I say. Retro-futuristic? I reckon so.
The musical lines are precise, succulent sonic streams running through spacious atmospheres, post-punk grooves carrying dance vibes, the sound of the past bubbling up into the present.
But as always, it is not the building blocks but the overall sound that is important, and for all my talk of echoes of the past, this is indie-pop, for want of a better term, that looks to the future, and not least because of the poignancy of the lyrics, which talk about how much TV has taken over our lives.
Practiced Lines, the band’s latest album, will be out soon, and on the strength of this fine first single from it, it is going to find favor with old school post-punkers, like me, and cutting edge alt-pop kids alike…and everyone in between.
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