French Kicks: One Time Bells : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Here's a rule for the new New York: If you're going to pose hard, you better rock harder. French Kicks, unfortunately, are a four-piece who fail to transcend their art-rock influences and Ben-Hur haircuts. One Time Bells has its moments. "Wrong Side" finds Matthew Stinchcomb singing "ended up at home on empty with the windows down" like a world-weary McCartney while the guitar mimicks the pinging warning of keys left in the ignition. And "Where We Went Off" is a three-minute document of a derailed relationship as deeply moving as Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart." But bottom line, French Kicks are getting shine because they're part of a scene. Their material, however, doesn't measure up to that of their New York peers: "Right in Time" lacks the potency of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' thematically similar "Our Time," and "Trying Whining" can't top the Strokes' "Take It or Leave It." Furthermore, the album's baffling mono feel weakens the French Kicks' already anemic sound. One Time Bells sounds thinner than a skinny tie.

PETER RELIC
(RS 897 - June 6, 2002)