Demonstrations Vol 1 French and McCarthy Release Type: EP Reviewer: Shichi

Rating: 4 stars User Rating: (0 votes. Login to vote, Sign-up here) Username:  Password:

It's hard not to charmed by a band who offers Russian documents as part of their press bio. French and McCarthy, consisting on drummer Brendan McCarthy on drums and singer/songwriter Paul French, play folk-rock without jangles or harmonies, instead sounding like a curious mixture of The Velvet Underground and The Beatles with cerebral lyrics.

The first track, Iguanadon, explodes out the speakers like a monster, with a throbbing drum beat, wild-sounding harmonica and piano and a reverb-drenched guitar making for an addictive song. When You Were Best In Show is more subdued and standard indie fare, which seems to wear out its welcome after a while by being too repetitive. However, MDMA Generation picks up the pace and rounds the EP out nicely with a sunny, tongue-in-cheek look at our current tech-savvy generation, complete with inspired harmonica solo. 

Overall, this is a great little release and worth picking up.