LE PIANC, LE PIANCSones, Spain ***
Rating: 66
By Jean-Stephane Beriot
Le Pianc is a surf pop six member group whose personality is to be admired; they’re ‘too cool for school’ but resign to make the best of it, that’s the most predominant feeling I get from this self-titled debut album. They’re calling their music punk but this has too much surf and bounces of rockabilly to rebel something else than a purpose to get up and dance along these hyper youngsters. Le Pianc has a time and a place, it succeeds as a trip to the 70s and 80s but I’m afraid it falls short in its attempt to capture Europe in such time fragment. It’s not that I’m getting myself into deep historical analysis; in fact, I think they wouldn’t be able to picture our own generation because they lack a sense of rediscovery, it’s brave to dig on the past but what’s the point in reviving it? Why not trying to progress it instead? If you got a bit of purist in yourself regarding generational art you’ll find yourself bumping into cliché here and there, and if you understand French (I'm French by the way), the album will sound like an immature attempt of the not all convincing music portrayed on mainstream television, which back then was imported to the rest of the world, thank god we now have the Internet. It’s unfortunate in this sense, but not in its actual execution; this sounds pretty and stands out right away, if, there’s no doubt the band has plenty of potential to earn a spot in Spain’s indie. The band sings in English and French, forgetting that Spain had a fantastic pop music era in the 80s, seriously, they could’ve done a great album full of Miguel Bose covers and the sensibility would’ve easily done the work they fail to entirely achieve by transitioning time on foreign lands. With the entire bash on my mind, it’s hard to actually advocate a positive rating but almost a crime not to. Songs like “Poor poor the egg” and “The strangest day I ever went through” are among the best tracks I’ve heard this year, this tells me their concept failed but not the music itself. It’s meant for the jukebox, for a weekend picnic and to be around friends. It’s well composed if taken apart, to be honest it’s hard to understand what they’re saying but it is part of its good side, and it makes short cuts like “Ichi, ni, san, shi” and “Noch Zeit” to become solid pieces as opposed to interludes. Definitely an album worthy to check out, I will forget about it in a couple of months but some songs will be around me for sure.