Wayward Gentlewomen

The previous album of these French rock’n’roll pistoleros was untitled “The Last For…” (2012), and could have been their farewell record, but it would have been too predictable… The WAYWARD GENTLEWOMEN are back with 13 new songs wrapped in zebra print, and pink & black. Somewhere between VIOLENT FEMMES and the DOGS, the band added a bit of sax on “Hymn” and “Leave Me Alone” (surprisingly, you’ll find a bit of KISS‘ “I Was Made For Loving You” in the melody!) and chose to sound real and raw on this new record.
“Fuckin’ Highway” is one of the catchiest songs on “Still Burnin'” together with “One Day” ; these songs have a bit of PIXIES in them, and “I Don’t Care” is glammy groovy number in a T.REX way. The band also flirts with noisy rock on “Destruction”, dark punk on “Across Ocean”, and 60s garage on “Dead Man”, but keep their own identity throughout the album.
The WAYWARD GENTLEWOMEN did everything themselves on this album, from the cover to the recording, and for the first time, they didn’t work with Lucas Trouble (the French Phil Spector!) who sadly passed away a few weeks ago. He would have been proud of them for sure./Laurent C.

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A new and possibly last (as the title suggests…) album from these fine French GENTLEWOMEN who previously released two EPs and one album (“Death of The Tree”.) The band has decided to put the acoustic/folk influences a bit aside to try and experiment with new things on “The Last For” musically as much as when it comes to the record production (Lucas Trouble) itself, and the result is quite interesting…
Opening with a LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH kind of intro (“She”) and a Lou Reed on speed meets a punk gospel choir (“The Preacher”), just followed by the catchy “I Try”, you can tell that WAYWARD GENTLEWOMEN have now gained enough experience to materialize their ideas and wildest fantasies into music. Late 60s melodies collide with 90s noisy guitar distortion and flirt with garage fuzz (“Kings”) or country punk (“Night Fears”.) Most of these songs would actually work really well as a movie soundtrack, whether they are sad ballads (“Stupid Idea”) or cryptic wave-ish rock’n’roll tracks (“Don’t Bug Me”.) You can also find a bit of the amazing French band les DOGS in this album, especially in the moving “So Lonely”.
Experimenting with new styles lead the band to write songs that can sound a bit surprising at first, like “I Was Alone” and its 80s hip-hop touch, “Jungle” and its wild animal backing vocals or the shoegazing “Laughing”, but in the end these songs bring more variety to the album.
This might be one of the last chances for you to check WAYWARD GENTLEWOMEN out, so don’t miss it…/Laurent C.

http://www.myspace.com/waywardgentlewomen