Francois
Cargo, London, June 11th
2006
The drummer from Francois doesn’t want to take any chances. “I
really like electric rock music,” declares his t-shirt, loud and
proud. Luckily for him, Francois – that’s Francois Marry,
ex of La Rochelle and now of Bristol, part time French teacher and indie
icon in the making – has the “electric rock music”
in a little box. When his band aren’t handclapping and jiving
in accompaniment, he lets the music out of the box, little toy town
chimes that surge and flutter at his bidding.
Some kids are blessed with quiet, cute charm, and Francois is one of
them. His band (by all accounts a Bristol supergroup of sorts, featuring
members of Movietone and other such local luminaries), happily make
music geek fools of themselves, dancing and clapping and crying “wooooh”
in unison like they’re auditioning for Architecture In Helsinki,
but Francois keeps his head down and his focus steady. He’s too
busy singing about late night parties and close friends for frivolity,
after all.
At times they resemble Modern Lovers and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, pulling
an open-ended groove out of thin air. At others, they’re more
of an electronic affair, Francois tinkering with his “little box”
of music, and being earnest and cute. For one song only, when Francois
thrashes at his guitar while the boys in the band meddle with recorders
and melodicas and a blue plastic thing that looks like a space rocket,
I’m reminded of Manu Chao – but that may just be the French
accent playing tricks.
Whatever the truth of the matter, they’re off too soon and we’re
left intrigued. Clap your hands, say “wooooh”, and let the
music out of the little box!
Ian Watson
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