The French Semester are a 4-piece band from California, and “Open Letter…” is their debut full-length album.
The general modus operandi of their material is one that straddles ‘60s guitar-pop and ‘90s American indie. Imagine a cross between The Beach Boys and The Lemonheads and you’re in the right territory.
“Open Letter…” starts strongly, with “The Blue Distance” being a folk-influenced song with a suitably lazy vocal style, and “Arrowheadings” offering a catchy melody and “ah-ah” vocal harmonies.
The two following tracks are filler, being uninspired, dull even, compared to the previous efforts. They pass the listener by without even bothering to say hello, and do not need to be discussed further.
Track 5 “Your Master Plan” is much better. It has a very pleasing melody in the introduction, and again is quite a catchy pop song. The next track, “The Day Of The Barrel” maintains this form, with its hummable chorus and nice guitar melody.
“Winter Song” is pleasant enough, in a The Thrills kind of way, but “Summer Face” is another dip in quality.
Track 9 “The Red The Black And The Blue” has a certain Beach Boys-esque, surf-pop feel, and is a (relatively) rockier affair than the previous songs.
For this reviewer, track 10 “A Singularity” is the highlight, being a simple yet catchy Kinks-influenced pop song. Lasting around two-and-a-half minutes it is the perfect length and it seems that this is what the band are best at.
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Track 11 “Me And The Mockingbird” which comes next is a slower song, and is too dull and throwaway to be necessary. Track 13, “Don’t Be A Magistrate” is similarly disappointing, but “Paradise” which these sandwich has a very likeable chorus, complete with jolly handclaps.
The final two tracks on the album are good. “And The Moon Was Watching” is a lighter version of perhaps Pavement or The Lemonheads, and “How Do We Act” has a more overt country influence, supplemented by further handclaps and some joyful “woo-hoo” vocal harmonies.
In parts, this is a pretty good album and shows a band with promise. When they stick to what they’re good at, namely simple, catchy pop songs they fair quite well, but by employing better quality control to get rid of the weaker tracks (of which there are five) they would have a much more consistent and better album. Solid enough summer listening.
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