Chicago-based French Police landed on many a cool kid’s playlist with their breakout 2021 single, “Vampiro,” satisfying the urge for gloom as capably as fellow brooders Molchat Doma and indie-pop melancholics Two Door Cinema Club.
Singer-guitarist Brian Flores, bassist Rolando Donjuan and guitarist Manny Herrera (plus synths and electronic drums) have come a long way as a DIY bilingual band founded in 2018. They’ll play Coachella next April, the capstone of an international tour this year and next that follows a flurry of recent releases.
The full-length LP Bully arrived January of 2024, moody and propulsive, full of solid bass lines and melodies floating in a pit of danceable despair. Songs such as “Her” emanate an effortless cool, while “Stress Test” conjures a chilly night air perfect for a season of rain and malaise.
The four tracks of the EP Espera, released early this year, blur the line between high energy and comfort with a nonchalance akin to The Garden and an instrumental style that recalls Twin Tribes. A pair of summer singles followed: the dreamy “Sugar Killer” feels like a Cocteau Twins callback; and “Libra” takes a step toward Billy Idol-esque New Wave without relinquishing a claim on instant indie-classic status.
It won’t be a shock to learn that post-punk heroes Interpol started Flores, French Police’s primary songwriter, on his musical journey — which got going in earnest in the early 2010s with another Chicago indie-pop band, Karma Wears White Ties. But each member of French Police has come to this project from a different angle. In a band profile published last year by the goth L.A. clothier The Pretty Cult, Donjuan credited the heavy bands Slipknot and The Mars Volta with his awakening, while Herrera cited skateboarding video game soundtracks, grunge and alternative.
So we can thank Paul Banks, Corey Taylor and Tony Hawk for helping set things in motion while we queue up some French Police alongside Physical by Pretty Sick, Decay by Sexual Purity, and anything by Lebanon Hanover.
French Police and openers Social Order play 7pm Sunday, November 2 at Gramps in Miami. frenchpoliceband.com ~ Erik Kvarnberg
