Tune in on Wednesday, August 7th @ 2pm to hear Excuse My French speak with singer // guitarist, Scott Huerta, of harmony driven power-pop San Francisco based band, French Cassettes, before they play Outside Lands in SF on Saturday, August 10th.
Latest album, Benzene, contains a world of references, quotes and handmade word-puzzles that only Huerta can fully unpack. Some of the band’s influences are apparent: The Magnetic Fields in the tight song construction and humor, The Beach Boys in the harmonies and experimentation. But Huerta’s lyrical aesthetic is his own, and Benzene is packed to the gills with funny, memorable one-liners and punctuated by knife twists. Its themes never veer too far from separation: from partners you still want the best for; from family members who have died; from a person you’re trying hard not to be.
“When You Know You Know” finds a soulful groove that continues into lilting quasi-Americana of “Megabus.” But the band never stands still for long: “Normal Day,” with its breakbeat-style drums and woozy Mellotron, is the band at its most carnivalesque. “White Noise” is a testament to Bunch’s knack for adventurous production, all warbling and dueling guitars and brutally oversaturated drums.
Benzene means nothing and everything. The title is not an allusion to the dangerous fossil fuel byproduct, nor is it a nod to the anti-anxiety drug Benzos. As a child, Scott Huerta’s birth name—Lorenzo—transformed into Wren, then Renzo. Before long, he was Renzo Benzo. By the age of four, the family had largely settled on Benz, which is what they still call him today.
