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Jesus, Rockstars, and Vampires: Sam France Rises From The Dead. 

By Jack Engdall

As cliche as it is, you can make the case that rock ain’t dead. In some cases, it’s been trapped in a reel-to-reel canister since 2019. 

That’s the case for Sam France’s recently released record “Hoarse Galores”, now released as a part of the indie rockers “Lost Albums” series. After a nearly 3-year release hiatus, France- a musician who seemingly proved all there is to prove- proves that he’s still one of the sharpest musicians on the scene today. Known for genre-hopping and blending his favorite sounds together, France goes for a psychedelic freak-folk approach this time around. Lyrics about Christ, Charlie Brown and Ted Bundy paint a vivid picture paired against the Dylan-esque music, unsettling listeners while making them feel strangely at home in the bizarro mirror dimension France creates. It’s a fresh sound for the musician (it was recorded in the basement of legendary Jersey writer/producer Kevin Basko (Rubber Band Gun) ),  yet it feels familiar enough for fans of France’s past work to slip back into comfortably. France reflects on past pain (the brilliant showstopper “I Should’ve Known”), strips back his sound to a Nick Drake-esque guitar and drums (“Good Time”), and brings the listener through his ruminations on life, death, the past, and his own mind on the haunting standout “Old Days”. Launched exclusively on Bandcamp, fans are able to listen to all 11 tracks and read the liner notes, handwritten by France himself.

This launch kickstarts the artist’s “Lost Albums” series, marking his most recent major releases since his band Foxygen’s record/parting statement “Seeing Other People” in 2019 (although he did release a record he made in high school- “God Is Real”- in 2020 on his Patreon “Tape Club”.)

On top of Hoarse Galores, fans can look forward to the releases of “Samifesto” (a dark, drug-oriented 2019 punk-rock record) and “Famous Vampires” (the rocker’s 2020 self-recorded bedroom horror-glam cassette album). Fans can expect to find the other two records in this series to be released onto France’s Bandcamp (samfrance.bandcamp.com) in due time. For now, fans can log on, tune in, and drop out with “Hoarse Galores”. 

Maybe rock was dead after all, and this is its horror-glam vampiric resurrection. 

SAM FRANCE, HOARSE GALORES AVAILABLE ON BANDCAMP
LINK BELOW

by JACK ENGDALL