Frightened Rabbit laid the groundwork for the blossoming of indie-folk music in Scotland, but it's the bands who followed who stopped the scene from stagnating by branching off in so many different directions.
French Wives' sound is built on more mainstream bones than most, and perhaps that's why they don't quite get the critical kudos of, say, Admiral Fallow or Woodenbox: ultimately, they're more Radio 2 than 6 Music.
Well, snobbery be damned because every one of the 10 songs on this debut album could be a single in its own right. Some already have – Me Vs Me, with its infectious handclap beat; Halloween, with its ambitious strings arrangement. Others have a rockier flavour, where power chords are as significant as Siobhan Anderson's lead fiddle lines, or pay their dues to the likes of Deacon Blue when she provides backing vocals. If we're in namedropping mode, throw in Arcade Fire and Noah And The Whale too, because French Wives' massive tunes are tailor-made to please the crowds. With this album under their belt, expect them to leapfrog from T Break/BBC Introducing levels to the main stages in a single bound.
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