No. 70: French Kicks, “Swimming”

Michaelangelo Matos / December 10, 2008

Remember all those shitty shows that you and your friends would hit up on the weekends as teenagers, usually held at a rec center or YMCA, where you’d pay three dollars to watch eleven local bands play horrible sets—except for one band? Sure, you knew the other bands and bought their merch of the tables for cred purposes, but you and everyone else in the room knew that there was only band there that would be playing shows post-prom. That band was the French Kicks.

Three of the four French Kicks have played together since high school—and in the warmest, fuzziest way possible, their sound reflects it. Swimming, their fourth album, delivered their best work to date and radio friendly jams like “Abandon” (love the hand claps!) while still maintaining the kinda-deep lyrics and unpolished sound that still pleases anyone who spent their baby-sitting money on homemade sew-on patches because they knew for sure that some day their favorite band would make it sorta big.

80 ’08 (And Heartbreak)