- Steer clear of this. 'Talented Frenchman' (it's claimed here) Jean-Francois Mouliet is attempting to do louche punk funk a la Spektrum, ESG or Inflagranti. He fails.
The beats on the title track 'French Girl' are passable enough. But when M. Mouliet opens his mouth things go downhill. At best it sounds like he's fighting back tears but whenever he strains it becomes incredibly irritating, like a bad parody of a falsetto. The lyrics are appalling too. You don't expect much but when you're faced with, on 'French Girl': 'You drive me mad, so mad, so mad, it makes me sad, so sad' and, on 'Another Glass': 'She feels like another glass, I feel like kicking your ass, toooonight, cos tooonights the night.’ It's impossible to take seriously.
Like ESG's songs, these are both stripped down to the bare elements of bass, drums and minimal effects. That's where the comparison ends. The whole presentation of these songs really got my back up. They're trendy as you like but with no substance at all behind the pose. Avoid.
On remix duty are the normally reliable Escort but even they can't salvage things, despite pretty making it into a completely different song. They add in vocals, backing brass but can't raise it above the kind of house music twats mistake for 'sophisticated' when it's just dull. The Fabrizio Mammarella remix stretches it out over seven minutes in a Balearic and cosmic style. It's the best of the lot, but that's not saying much.
TracklistA1 French Girl
A2 French Girl (Escort Remix)
B1 Another Glass
B2 Another Glass (Fabrizio Mammarella Remix)