Big French Heeds Encroaching Death in “Apartments For The West” – AdHoc

Big French Heeds Encroaching Death in “Apartments For The West”

The poetically existential song addresses gentrification, hitting close to home for many.

On Big French‘s debut Downtown Runnin, songwriter Quentin Moore’s voice rarely dips from a falsetto and every available space is spackled with manic electric guitar work. After four years, the group’s forthcoming LP sees them paring back a bit, but they’re nevertheless managing the strangest diversions and insights while keeping tightly tethered to pop. Recorded on reel-to-reel with help from keyboardist Zach Phillips (of OSR Tapes and many affiliated projects), Big French’s Stone Fish is intimate, still manic but more quietly so, with Phillips’ contribution beaming through the mix and the instrumentation. On the warm two-minute “Apartments For The West,” Moore and Phillips fall into a steady, mostly soft groove. This time, Moore’s voice is proximal to the song, the thing around which all the little computer blips and horn intrusions clamber. His language is sing-songy but dense, mutating line by line like a Stein poem: “They’re planning an apartment for the west / they’re sealing new apartments for the west / they’re shielding new apartments for the west / crawling through the window drawing breath.” As the voice seesaws, the thought wanders beyond gentrification, hitting even closer to home—”Thy will be done,” Moore had sung in the first minute, and subtle intimations of death and afterlife continue to creep in. “Your sill is an apartment for the west,” and you’ve become the target of a larger plan.

Stone Fish is out May 26 via Wharf Cat and Ramp Local.

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