The Boston band Francine strikes me as a bit of a rare bird these days. As a rock band that walks a fine line between radio-friendly accessibility and sonic experimentation, they bring to mind a combination of Toad The Wet Sprocket, The Notwist, Radiohead, Elliott Smith, and all that was great about mid-nineties modern rock. On their latest (and third) full-length album Airshow the band lays down track after track of wonderfully complex and layered melodic pop-rock with no discernible leanings towards any one polarizing sub-genre.
Unlike their sophomore effort 28 Plastic Blue Versions Of Endings Without You (which was produced by John Dragonetti a.k.a. Jack Drag), the band has traded some of their breezier pop-rock moments in for something a bit darker, moodier, and more introspective. Francine’s hushed, minor-key melodic rock is perfect with coffee on a lazy Sunday morning but also while winding down after a night out on the town. I’m actually quite surprised that the songs on Airshow aren’t being played on radio stations everywhere. This band should be huge.
Airshow is a warm, pleasant, and inviting album that even after repeated listens somehow never gets stale. And while it isn’t an indie rock album (by any means) it is something that indie kids will probably enjoy while (strangely) also managing to be an album that they could play for their parents without any chance of offending them. Go over to the band’s Myspace or Purevolume pages for more music from this great band including a few of my favorites off the new album. Airshow is out now on Q Division Records (thanks Andrea).
MP3 | Francine – Zeros And Ones Airshow
MP3 | Francine – Connectionless Airshow
