French Kicks, born and raised in my wonderful hometown of Washington, DC, will be releasing their second album on Vagrant Records, Swimming, on May 20th (though it will be available on iTunes on April 1st). Their newest effort is refreshing and familiar at the same time, and is particularly noteworthy because the band produced and mixed it all by themselves. Lead singer Josh Wise said that, on Swimming, the Kicks “hoped to capture the joy of friends playing together in a relaxed way. We used a lot of first and second takes and tried to preserve a sense of immediacy and discovery that comes from putting things down before you really have a chance to think too hard. It’s bolder, and at the same time more intimate, than anything we’ve done.” If the whole album is anything like “Abandon”, the first single, you’re listening to a contender for the top ten albums of 2008.
Check out “Abandon” and, if you can, check out these guys in concert in the next couple months. Dates after the jump.
Love,
Zack
French Kicks Spring 2008 Tour:
4/01 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
4/04 Boston, MA, @ Middle East
4/05 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
4/08 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
4/15 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
4/24 Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
4/25 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
4/26 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
4/27 Asheville, NC @ Bald Eagle
5/15 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
5/16 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
5/18 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
5/19 Sacramento, CA @ Blue Lamp
5/22 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
5/23 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
All Things Go 
Hey, your guys should check out Sondre Lerche. I listen to a majority of the stuff you guys write about on here so I thought you guys would enjoy his work as well. So check him out if you haven’t already.