Francesqa

We Lived EP

Written by: TL on 13/10/2010 23:11:45

A good few months ago, I stumbled over a band in Rock Sound called Francesqa, whom one of our other writers found good enough to recommend to you guys via a news post featuring one of their videos. I was meant to review their EP shortly after that, but somehow got away from it. An error I hope to rectify now.

Francesqa are a band in a crowded field of young, British contemporary alternative rockers, trying to walk as credible a line between pop and rock as they can. The instruments are traditional for a five piece, two guitars, bass, and drums, and their singer, Ashley Wilkie, is talented enough to catch the ear of even the casual listener. They're a bit softer than for instance Young Guns - whose singer Gustav Wood actually sounds comparable to Wilkie - but still heavier than for instance You Me A Six, though they do have a poppy part here or there that could call for a comparison to them.

On the band's début EP "We Lived", five tracks have been produced to introduce the world to Francesqa, and I want to go ahead and reveal that they are as catchy and as finely produced as any début material you're going to hear at the moment. You can hear what scene the band comes from, but yet also clearly distinguish them from their peers. As is often the case, this owes in great deal to the vocals, and Wilkies does a really good job, at least in his lower parts, where his voice is quite mesmerizing. His high parts however, are a little too reminiscent of a rather typical 'young British strained yelp', and I do foresee that some will find it more annoying than pleasing.

One way to become friends with it though, is to listen to the other contributing factor in the memorable impression left by this EP - Which would be the songs themselves, as they are exactly that nice type which you feel like you can sing along to before you're even through your first listen, without it coming at the cost of the sound seeming dumbed down, or you feeling like the band is borrowing too heavily from anyone else.

Overall, this is not a reinvention of the wheel, but it is a credible and potent reinterpretation of the modern alterna-rock formula, and if that sounds appealing to you, I recommend you give this baby a few spins, while joining me in waiting for the band to tidy up those high-pitched vocals and putting them to use in some more songs.

Download: Ghost, Crooked Little Sun, We Lived
For The Fans Of: Young Guns, You Me At Six, Kids In Glass Houses, Deaf Havana, Avosetta
Listen: myspace.com/francesqa

Release Date 19.07.2010
**UNSIGNED BAND**

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.