French Broads

While most years the albums that make the biggest impression tend to be those that sound stunningly new or offer something truly unique, so far this year I've been caught with a more simple bug, the love of a good song. Most of the best albums I've heard in the last few months have been by relatively straightforward rock and pop bands (California Oranges, Creeper Lagoon, Spoon) who have a knack at writing really tuneful, memorable songs. The French Broads are another band in that vein. From Nashville, TN (and named after a river, in case you're wondering), they're a rock trio taking your standard instruments and doing nice things with them. Their album My Friend Speed opens with "Hook," a bluesy rocker with a killer pop chorus, and continues in that vein: guitar-based rock with catchy melodies and riffs. Yet they're not a one-genre group; they dip into other styles quite nicely, like on the straight-outta-oldies radio shuffle "Summer's Over," or the countryish (more like CCR meets Yo La Tengo's Fakebook) pop tune "Forgotten." There's also trips into surf rock ("Serf") and spacier-rock ("New Year's Day"). Lyrically they take on the universals of everyday life (love, loss, childhood) from a personal point of view. All in all, whether they're lazily pondering summer love or straight-up rocking the house, The French Broads do it with humor, melody, and an overriding sense of fun which carries you off and kindly leaves you with a big grin. --dave heaton

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