After forming at UGA in the late 1990s, Je Suis France established a reputation as Athens’ go-to indie-rock party band, releasing a self-titled 2000 LP and 2003’s terrific Fantastic Area—as well as a stream of exploratory CD-Rs that showcased the group’s mischievous side—before its members scattered to various corners of the continent.
The band has continued to exist, largely as a recording project, with albums like 2011’s Let’s Give ‘Em Something to Talk About and 2013’s Coleslaw III Drymouth serving as worthy if disjointed entries in the France canon. In 2017, with many of its members having returned to Athens and Atlanta, the group released By the Condo, a more familial effort, complete with Dead-referencing cover art.
On Nov. 8, Je Suis France is set to drop what a press release calls “the most consistent record of their lives,” Back to the Basics of Love (preorder on Bandcamp), which finds the band getting back to its roots by penning a sonic love letter to the guitar-centric college-radio playlists that informed it from the beginning.
Today, we’re pleased to premiere the video for the A-side of a pair of singles from the new album, “Looking for Someone Like Me,” a two-minute burner that begins as a razor-sharp punk song and devolves into noisy, blessed chaos.
Says band member Garrett Martin:
You know that feeling when you’re yearning and searching for something important in life, and then realize you’ve had it all along and just been taking it for granted? “Looking for Someone Like Me” could be about that, I guess. Adrian Finch plays sax on it and its sister song, “I’ve Got the Look,” which is also out today.
Check it out:
Je Suis France plays the final night of Brain Aid Fest Saturday, Oct. 12 at Go Bar.
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