Star Time
2004
The Trial Of The Century
About This Album
Just as One Time Bells distanced the French Kicks from their messy garagey/post-punky beginnings, The Trial of the Century finds them moving even farther away from loud drums and guitars. Instead, they deliver a prettier, more restrained sound that suggests a fusion of New Order's crooning vocals and the Cars' restless rhythms -- they started out being influenced by one aspect of '80s music and now take inspiration from a different side of that decade's sound. Indeed, the skipping rhythm and twinkling guitars and keyboards on "Oh Fine" would do Tears for Fears proud, and "Following Waves" sounds a little like the synthier side of Talking Heads crossed with the Kicks' own previous highlight, "Close to Modern." But unlike many other contemporary bands that borrow from synth pop and new wave, the French Kicks don't sound stranded in the '80s. Like a less electronic version of the Postal Service, on The Trial of the Century the band invokes nostalgia for that decade but puts it in a different context. The album's centerpiece, "Was It a Crime," uses cheesy synth string and brass sounds to give the song a strange majesty that adds to its poignancy.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 9)

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