Frankie valet - Stop apologizing (2018)

Anticipation has been building for Stop apologizing, the debut album from St Louis’ Frankie valet. We’ve already brought you their recent double single, and an accompanying music video, and now the wait is over. The record is out in all its glory. The album opens with one of the aforementioned singles, ‘Something to do with a mouth’, what we described previously as “like a purply-pink orb that morphs and melds across the four and half minute run-time, constantly shifting in perfectly fluid pop perfection.” And that last bit is important, because if there’s one thing you should take from this review it’s that Frankie Valet can write pop songs. Like, really well.

Which isn’t to say there’s anything formulaic about the sound. Rather, the band explore other styles through a pop lens. Take ‘April’ as an example, sounding almost like Parts & Labor if they had made shimmery pop, the track building towards a big bombastic chorus, all slapped drums and near-yelled vocals.

One of the standout aspects of the album is the way Frankie Valet alter the tempo within songs, like the way they slam on the brakes in ‘Holes in Your Story’, morphing from shoegazy pop to something slow and insular, or the pulse-quickening little pockets of acceleration that dot the aforementioned ‘something to do with a mouth’ like whitewater rapids in a river.

As we’ve described previously, lead single ‘Why blue’ is part throwback pop, part shoegazy indie rock, with an uncanny habit of finding tempo and melody when you least expect it. Just as things seem to settle into a somnambulant shuffle, driving drums kick in and the song rides a little eddy of energy to somewhere entirely new. The result is something equal parts fun and sad, twin emotions tied together in nostalgic fuzz.

‘Fall in 2’ pulls a similar trick, although perhaps a little more conventionally. The first two thirds are all sweet pop, the near-whispered vocals thick with a sense of infatuation, before giving way to a big crunchy finale. This atmosphere of devotion continues into ‘mint 2’; “This is so new,” they sing, “but I feel like I’ve known you for a thousand years,” over slinky surf pop and steady pounding percussion.

The final proper song ‘Concert Pad’ feels like a dreamy oasis adrift at the end of Stop apologizing, pretty acoustic guitar and subtle vocals conjuring the most intimate atmosphere across any of the eight tracks. The effect is one of a soothing balm, welcome sedate relief after the frantic energy of the previous songs, and it’s a lovely way to round off the album.

Stop apologizing is out now on It Takes Time Records and you can get it via their Bandcamp, or digitally from the Frankie valet Bandcamp page.



Track List:
1. Something to do with a mouth 04:32
2. April 04:37
3. Holes in your story 04:09
4. Fall in 2 03:56
5. Why blue 04:16
6. Mint 2 03:10
7. Concert pad 04:20
8. Coda 00:51

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