Francesqa crept onto my radar last year with the astonishingly brilliant ‘A Little Closer’ which has been a permanent inclusion on my iTunes playlists ever since. When I discovered the band were recording a follow up EP hopes were high and thankfully I’m not disappointed. Infact, if anything, my expectations have been exceeded because ‘We Lived’ is a brilliant pop-rock record crammed full of some of the best songs you’ll hear all year.
‘Ghosts’ is destined to be played on mainstream radio. It’s seriously a brilliant song, bordering on perfection. It’s catchy, it’s fun, it has all the ingredients to get the likes of Edith Bowman’s knickers in a knot. I was listening to this EP and watching the Glastonbury coverage last weekend and I really did think how the band would suit playing to that audience. There’s a real ‘current’ sound to Francesqa, but not in any kind of ‘sellout’ or cheesy way. This is just good old fashioned rock music with catchy choruses and plenty of singalongs. It doesn’t break new ground, but then as Tiger Please have shown, you don’t need to try and push at the boundaries to be successful. You just need to write fucking good songs.
‘Years’ is a brilliant grower, at almost 6-minutes it’s a real twisting marathon but gets better with every listen. The choppy ‘Crooked Little Sun’ shows the band has a slightly more angsty side, but again the song is brilliant with a chorus to die for. ‘Hopeful’ is every bit as catchy as the catchiest moments on this EP. I’m running out of superlatives and I’m getting carried away. Truth is, not too many bands excite me anymore. I’m getting jaded – I have new releases fed to me every day on a musical conveyor belt and it’s easy to put releases down and pick up something new. ‘We Lived’ is such a good record it’s rapidly moving up my Last.fm rankings.
There’s not a second wasted on this EP. The only reason it didn’t get a full 5-stars is because I think the band can still get better. I don’t think this will be their highest point, that’s still to come. It’s frightening to think how far this band can go as they really are that good. At a time when British bands are releasing fantastic records, this stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of them.