Q&A: French Cassettes - 'Rolodex' + "Santa Cruz Tomorrow" Video
☆ By SOPHIE GRAGG ☆
A PERFECT BALANCE OF GROOVE, HAZE AND ENERGY - French Cassettes brings it all with their latest album Rolodex. The San Francisco quartet, consisting of vocalist Scott Huert, bassist Thomas Huerta, drummer Rob Mills and guitarist/producer Mackenzie Bunch, brings an effortless flow to their sound while always having that bit of emotive edge to keep the listener in it. The album follows a series of singles from recent years and their debut project Gold Youth from 2013.
Rolodex truly encapsulates the French Cassettes sound and takes the listener on a smooth journey throughout the whole album. “Dixie Lane” kicks the album off with a soft, endearing flow. The soft guitars have just enough upbeat energy throughout the track to keep the listener engaged and ready for the next note. “Isn’t Anyone” continues the sweet flow with the instrumentals, with the guitars in particular, taking on a stronger energy.
Tracks like “City Kitty”, “Utah” and “So Good” showcase the groovy undertones of French Cassettes while “Sunday Soda” and “Unfermented” highlight the more smooth, emotive flow of the album.
The latest single and video “Santa Cruz Tomorrow” emulates that dreamy feel listeners adore, giving them a peak into Huert’s lucid dreaming. Tapping into their creativity beyond music, the video follows a charming narrative while featuring an aesthetic anyone could fall in love with.
Go on the smooth journey that is Rolodex and read below to learn more about the making of the album, the evolution of their sound and more.
LUNA: Congrats on your upcoming album Rolodex! How are you doing these days? How are you feeling about the project?
HUERTA: Well thanks so much, been writing music with this band for over 15 years and I honestly don't think I've ever been this happy about a Frenchy project. It's almost funny seeing all the tracks lined up next to each other cuz none of them were written with a plan in hand to clump together as an album but it ended up working. For example some of the original Rolodex demos were finished at 6am without sleep and some were written sitting in a backyard in the country while staring at the family cow. The artwork too I'm just so happy with, came from asking our friend Leah if we could have her fruit doodle she was sketching while we were recording at her house in the Lower Haight in San Francisco. I credit our label Tender Loving Empire with a lot of optimism I'm feeling about this project because they've been incredibly helpful and it feels good to be in the hands of great folks like that.
LUNA: I’m assuming a good amount, if not all, of this album was created in quarantine. Can you share a bit what this process was like when compared to your normal process?
HUERTA: That's a good guess but the truth is some of these songs were written almost 5 years ago. Been working on them for a while. They were just demos I recorded on Garageband for most of that time and we finished recording the final versions right around when quarantine started. I don't want to get ahead of myself but quarantine did give us time to finish a batch of even newer demos for the band. But back to Rolodex you're losing track.
LUNA: Given the good chunk of time between Rolodex and your first project, Summer Darling EP, what are some of the key ways you’ve seen your sound evolve?
HUERTA: I was unemployed and staying up all night writing every day during the 5 years it took to write these songs so my brain kinda wandered a bit more compared to our last album 'Gold Youth'. I'd say I was a bit more inspired by my favorite bands on this one, not so much whole songs but honestly I just fixated on specific moments in my favorite songs and would write a whole tune just based off that moment I heard.
LUNA: The album explores Scott’s lucid dreams - a fun concept for sure! Which track was your favorite to write?
HUERTA: "Unfermented" was my favorite to write. That's Mac's song and he sent me an unfinished demo of it one day without any vocals on it and I think he said something like "it's kinda garage-y so maybe not our style" and I listened and responded "no way man this is Petty, it's perfect" and he was like "I love Petty" so with his blessing I wrote lyrics and a melody to it while my house was having a party and every time I finished a new section of the song I'd go out and celebrate with everyone then go back to writing.
LUNA: Which track was the most difficult to finalize? Why did you want to stick with it?
HUERTA: "Utah" was the trickiest one. And we stuck with it because the guys all loved the demo I made of it so I knew we had to at least finish it and see. It took a lot of time to figure out what to do for the bridge section in the middle. Sooo many versions and I feel like I was the least useful in cracking it. I'm always grateful for having the dudes in the band to play with but the day we figured that song out was one of those moments where you're reminded how lucky you are to have such great musicians and writers to play with.
LUNA: Sonically, were there any key influences that shaped the feel of the project?
HUERTA: A lot. Like I mentioned earlier there were a lot of moments in songs I loved that inspired me to write these songs. Just to name a few: My friend had just come back from a Dirty Projectors show and played one of their new songs from memory on guitar and I wanted to make my own version of it for "Dixie Lane". I was watching a lot of Brian Wilson(Beach Boys) interviews and studio footage when I wrote "Isn't Anyone?" which I think might be my favorite track on the album. There's a 10 second section of a Yellowbirds song that inspired "So Good". Our drummer's roommate interrupted a rehearsal one day to play us a funk record he'd just bought and I stole from that to write "City Kitty". I won't bore everyone with more examples but basically a lot of moments like that made this record.
LUNA: On the other hand, who/what is inspiring you visually these days?
HUERTA: I live a block away from Golden Gate Park here in SF and it's my favorite place. I'm not usually the type to go site seeing I honestly prefer not to travel more than 10 minutes to look at something but GG Park is my favorite place on the planet and when I need to I go there.
LUNA: The “Santa Cruz Tomorrow” video definitely highlights your attention to detail on the visual side of your work and brings out the hazy/dreamy feel of the track. What was the making of it all like?
HUERTA: We had wonderful and talented people help us on that one. I was on my lunch break at work one day and a girl came up to me and said "hey you're in that band I saw at that party the other day" and she said she made videos and just flat out said we should make one together so we did. Vanessa Pla is her name and her and I spent hours writing that video together. None of the guys really knew what the video was about until the day of the shoot and I remember at one point our drummer Rob came up to me in full magician costume and said "hey Scott can I talk to you for a sec...so I'm a little confused...I'm supposed to be a magician in your dream?" and I said "yeah" and he said "ok just making sure" and walked away to practice his card trick a little more.
LUNA: Dead or alive, who would be your dream collaborator?
HUERTA: Gosh...Paul McCartney, he's one of the only people to make me cry while listening to. Also I recently learned Linda Ronstadt is my neighbor so I'd love to sing "Many Rivers To Cross" with her if we happen to be taking a walk at the same time.
LUNA: As this weird year winds down and you have this project out, what do you hope the upcoming months bring you?
HUERTA: I've been lucky to have some security in this odd year so honestly I hope that continues so I can keep writing. I hope my friends record music for me to listen to because I always look forward to that. Also hoping to sell enough Rolodex records to afford to buy a record player.
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slowthai by Rosie Matheson 🤩 https://t.co/z7SDfFQ5iF
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RT @i_D: Ian Kenneth Bird photographs young punks on Polaroid: https://t.co/MKT0tMUqO9 https://t.co/a0tTl12ML5
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RT @AnOtherMagazine: #DreamHome – this isolated idyll in the mountains of Lanzarote 🌵 📸 via Nowness, photography by Clemence Blr 🔁 https://t.co/GUusdxD0cg
