Listening to Chester French’s album “Love the Future” is like walking through a hipster boutique – graphic T-shirts with ironic sayings to the right, obscure vinyl records to the left and general nerdiness all around. The only difference is that D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey’s musical goods have more authenticity.
“Love Future” is sonically retro – lead single “She Loves Everybody” is vintage pop with a touch of soul, and “Beneath the Veil” could easily pass for a Johnny Cash cover.
The lyrics, however, are a bit more contemporary. It seems that part of what makes Chester French appealing is imagining lead singer D.A. Wallach, in his bow tie and khaki pants, crooning sincerely that “it ain’t groupie love … you’re my Bebe Buell, my Puerto Rican Pamela Lee,” on the roaring track “Bebe Buell.”
“Love the Future” isn’t all facetious, however. “Fingers,” begins with a few happy-go-lucky piano chords, and quickly soars to include rumbling drums, delicate stringed-instruments and all the trappings of something orchestral.
“And the fingers of your mind have wrapped around my spine, and made me feel so blind,” Wallach sings, on the soaring gem.
———
Chester French
“Love the Future” (Star Trak Entertainment)
Genre: pop
Grade: A-