Over the last decade, New Zealand's French for Rabbits have garnered a reputation for brewing up only the finest soft-goth & dreamy pop in their bubbling cauldrons, and their latest single 'Walk the Desert' is no exception. The final single before the November 12th release of their upcoming album The Overflow, 'Walk the Desert' offers a more boppy 'n' poppy listening experience than perhaps previous tracks like 'The Weight of Melted Snow' or 'Claimed by the Sea,' but still has their trademark lurching, melancholic tinge. Frontwoman Brooke Singer delves deeper:
"'Walk the Desert' is another song that fits into the canon of this album – it’s about big feelings, and trying to keep them contained. That feeling that if someone asks if you’re alright, you know you’d burst into tears."
Like me, if you're a fan of Kate Bush, spoopy ghosts and scary skellingtons, then this album is tailor-made for you. 'Walk the Desert' is being released alongside an accompanying music video, continuing the story of Brooke Singer's character, which we've seen woven in previous singles from the album 'The Dark Arts', 'The Overflow,' 'Ouija Board' & 'The Outsider.' Laughing about the video, Brooke Singer stated:
"We filmed the music video for 'Walk the Desert' home mostly in one day, at home in and around Waikuku Beach...It turned out that rowing a boat and singing at the same time required more skill than I had...particularly with the tall in stature cinematographer Julian Vares sitting at the bow of the boat. Martin Sagadin managed to fall in and get drenched while directing."
Appropriately edgy & oozing with delicious visuals, each video offers different shades of wight retrospection, friendly ghost introversion and creeping-shadow-fingers nosferatu-flavoured anxiety. This band is certainly one which needs to be fully appreciated not just auditorily, but visually too. videos like 'The Dark Arts' are so sombre and sparse, and then we get this beautiful dichotomy with playful videos like the titular 'The Overflow' giving us the trudging Ghost-of-Introverts-Past:
Despite the séance candles & black-lacquered-nails shadow the imagery can cast, the album is anything but! It is the perfect balance of fun & mischievous bugaboo meets mournful & barrow-bound banshee:
"Perhaps it is more like a warm blanket. I'm really delighted with what we've made, very proud of our creation. I hope it finds its way into the right hands, and people give it a chance to sink it...I want people to listen to it loudly. Not quietly in the background...it's an album for introverts, but it isn't an introverted album." - Brooke Singer
So, come one, come all to this tragic affair. Wipe off that makeup, what's in is despair. Throw on the Black Dress, mix in with the Lot. Come November 12th, you might wake up and notice it's a banging album you've got. Until then, trick or treat on French for Rabbits' latest, greatest & most up-to-datest single 'Walk the Desert,' poking out from under your bed today, on Friday the 22nd of October.