#frenchpunk

Guerilla Poubelle release series of in-studio sessions

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Faux Départ, Vie Ordinaire (Destructure, Les Choeurs De L’Ennui, Echo Canyon, Colilla, Mutant, Tocsin, 2020)

I feel a bit self conscious about tackling a record like Faux Départ’s second LP ‘Vie Ordinaire’ [‘Ordinary Life], because I feel people have been talking about it in terms of like “poppy punk rock” and I really don’t know anything about that shit. But let’s be honest here, I never have any idea what I’m talking about. I go with my gut, and my gut has been singing in French since this album came in the mail.

I’ve been talking with friends about the reason why some of the punk music that has been coming out of France in the last few years sounds so familiar to us. The most immediate connection we make is to bands like the Observers or No Hope For The Kids, whose songwriting was based on classics like Rikk Agnew, TSOL and the Misfits, but with a renewed, gripping sense of tragedy and darkness. French bands like Faux Départ (but also in their own way Zone Infinie, Litovsk, Syndrome 81) convey a similar sense of urban melancholy.

Why did I write “urban” just there? Well, I didn’t want all this talk of sadness, darkness and tragedy to evoke visions of self-obsessed bored rich kids crying "woe is me”. The depression that runs in the 9 songs on ‘Vie Ordinaire’ is the same depression lining the walls of the housing estates on the outskirts of French cities, the same depression the French anarchist collective Invisible Committee likened to being "on strike" from society. Faux Départ are angry, desperate and pretty fucking punk.

The main thing about this album is, every song is really catchy. Some have jangly riffs reminiscent of the Wipers (“Vie Ordinaire”, “Fantôme"), some are more power pop oriented (“Si Tu Viens Avec Moi”), some hit harder and have an almost hardcore feel (“Ennemi”), with angular and jerky post-punk moments popping up here and there. What really makes it unique (and maybe uniquely French) are the gruff but melodic vocals with the occasional gang chorus—you’ll be stuck singing in a language you can’t speak for weeks.

Click here to listen to Vie Ordinaire on Bandcamp.