Faux Départ Faux Départ
- Format
7 Inch
Black
£8.50
‘Gazer, matraquer : c’est l’esprit français, Régner avec autorité: l’esprit français, Un jour, on détruira tout l’esprit français’ / ‘To gas, to club: it’s the French spirit, To reign with authority: the French spirit, One day, we will destroy the whole French spirit’ (Anti-France)
Hailing from Lyon, Faux Départ (False Start) return with their first release since 2020’s full length, Vie Ordinaire (Ordinary Life) and it is an absolute treat. Every element, from the brightly sharp guitar to the briskly buoyant rhythms, by way of the energetically layered vocals, is expertly woven together as the cleanly enunciated French vocals explore surveillance capitalism, the rise of authoritarian populism, and the travails of the middle-aged punk.
The first two tracks brim with a jauntily upbeat energy and an utterly infectious pop sensibility, the flaring organs of Si Tu Disparis (If You Disappear) and the melody fuelled climax to Drone hitting home with invigorating vitality. Things take a rather more feverish turn on the flip side. Both tracks are faster, notably more agitated, with the darkly swirling Anti-France feeding into the raucously bittersweet closer, Toujours Lá (Always There). Faux Départ is a consummate lesson in deftly crafted melodic punk.