Wharf Cat Records

Big French have returned, following up their maverick 2013 debut LP Downtown Runnin with Stone Fish, a 16-track sophomore full-length that sees bandleader Quentin Moore’s energetic bursts of post-punk composition transformed by boutique, reel-to-reel production to fantastic ends, filtering established pop sensibilities through eclectic idioms of free-expression. On Stone Fish, the band’s third release for Wharf Cat Records, Moore shares co-production credits alongside longtime collaborator Zach Phillips (Blanche Blanche Blanche, OSR Tapes) and orchestrates electric performances from band members Colin White, Adam Steck, Jo Miller-Gamble, as well as a cameo appearance from Austin Julian (The Sediment Club, Sunk Heaven). 

Assembled primarily from tracks recorded to tape at Phillip’s Manual FX Studio in Brooklyn circa 2015 / 2016, the sonic framework of Stone Fish swerves through the gamut of emotions while being united by kinetic arrangements of layered madness revolving around Moore’s instinctive, delicate vocal melodies and his asymmetrical guitar leads. Virtuosic grooving and free-improv rooted leads power the songs forward. Rocking hits like “I Wanna New Rome”, “Words Appear”, and “Rush Morgue” speed by, (nearly every cut is less than 3 minutes long) striking the listener with concise declarations, intended to both be familiar and at the same time to shock and to never resolve vis-a-vis the expected trope. Tracks the likes of “The Troll”, “Fly Like A Bird”, or “My Angel” gracefully deliver subdued melodic content over stream of consciousness harmonic turns. Throughout the record musical ideas jump in and out of focus redirecting the ever-changing cacophony of plucked guitars and jarring rhythms: Zach Phillips Wurlitzer might creep in with an enharmonic lick, reel-to-reel manipulation may distort the drums, sending a noisy crash through the channels. With multiple listens, Stone Fish revels itself as more detailed and exciting each time, existing as smart reorientation of the boundaries of pop music’s comfort zone. 

PAST PRESS -

Tiny Mix Tapes Review of Downtown Runnin this record is a unicorn

Impose Review of "Payback" an energetic battle of the bands within the band

Tiny Mix Tapes Video Premiere reflections of reality in song and string, old and new, cream drops and heads nod

Ad Hoc Premieres "Payback" a feeling equivalent to rocking out too hard to Royal Trux while watching workplace-instructional films

The Aquarian Reviews Downtown Runnin not for the faint of heart

Downtown Runnin                                                                                      

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In 2013 it’s easy to find a band espousing “punk” aesthetics; less so a band whose creative modus operandi is to apply that kind of uninhibited and spiritually combative aesthetics to the songwriting process, without a nod to the sound and pageantry of the ostensible contemporary vanguard.

Big French is that band. Their first full-length, Downtown Runnin, consists of eighteen short songs that burn out before becoming rote. Unmoored in the zeitgeist, the band covers a wide variety of material, from structurally complex power ballads “Would Not Try”, “Downtown Runnin” to dreamy smears “Atlanta”, “Whale”, heavier postpunk “Ungungungungone” and arcade prog “Payback”. As the album rushes through its short duration, notes of disparate influences appear briefly, subsumed by the next; Big French is loath to sit still, whether stylistically, harmonically or in attitude.

Quentin Moore wrote Downtown Runnin in Germantown, New York in 2011 and 2012. A dynamic crew of close associates was recruited, including drummer Jo Miller-Gamble (Great Valley) and keyboardist Zach Phillips (Blanche Blanche Blanche), and Downtown Runnin was recorded in a series of sessions at Mike Kutchman’s (Ancient Sky) Kutch 1 studio in Greenpoint. The album was recorded with minimal overdubbing and engineered intervention.

The first thing any Big French listener will notice is Moore’s unconventional vocal counterpoint, less Tiny Tim falsetto than piccolo guitar. It’s no gimmick, or the mark of a castrato; Moore is simply a strange individual, known to Germantown’s residents as the “Mahogany Man” for his bizarre wooden attire. And the landscape of Downtown Runnin, with its cascading hills and fields of sundry heirloom melodies, is the Mahogany Man’s ideal environment. With Moore’s voice at the helm, band’s spasmodic chops and bent coordination speak louder than words. Big French, Downtown Runnin, Wharf Cat Records, 2013.