Reality Check

One idea trying to be a career...
Mix the twee predictable choruses of a bad Chumbawumba song, with the spoken word verses from Nada Surf’s ‘Popular’. Sprinkle with some hipster misogyny (“I love my American cunt,” sings singer Quentin Delafon on ‘Homecoming’), some inane namedropping (on ‘Scarlett Johansen’) some nods to MySpace (on ‘Fuck Nicole’), some nasty classism (“they were wearing Nike caps” he sings on 'Streets Of Paris, like it’s a signifier of ‘worth’) and what you’re imagining is only half as shit as The Teenagers. You’ll like this if you like self-conscious, unselfaware, privileged French boys, who’ve grown up on The Strokes, nu-rave and fashion magazines. They could do with a spell in the army, I reckon. Bring back conscription (grumble, grumble etc).
Patrick Freyne
Key track: ‘Homecoming’ (for the curse words)