Follow Me Not – Vanishing Smile (Album – Unknown Pleasures Records)
Genre/Influences: Cold-wave, dark-wave, shoegaze.
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: After having self-released several early albums, the French duo Nicolas Guerroué and Mik Chevalier joined hands together with Unknown Pleasures Records. “Vanishing Smile” is the band’s third official full length opus, which comes three years after “If The Sky Remains”.
Content: I was a bit skeptical about Follow Me Not’s previous album so I was wondering how they would evolve. The songs remain inspired by different dark 80s genres like cold-wave, but there also is an explicit shoegaze input. It resulted in a varied work taking off with ‘classical’ cold-wave elements carried by low, vibrating bass lines and evolving towards fuzzy guitar playing reminds me of The Jesus And The Mary Chain. On top of the composition you’ll hear passionate vocals.
+ + + : I’m not saying that Follow Me Not has reinvented their sound, but the influences are more varied. The guitar parts are pretty important and especially on the shoegaze tracks. “When Winter’s Gone” is a noticeable song in the shoegaze style. But I can also enjoy their cold-wave driven music like the opening track “Reason”. The chorus of this song has something melodic, getting back to a more catchy input during the chorus reminding me of Q.Lazzarus. I also appreciate a more delicate touch hanging over songs such as “Care Less” and “Strange Stranger”
– – – : A few softer/slower tracks can’t convince me; I here refer to “Bliss” and “Sunday”.
Conclusion: Follow Me Not sounds like having enlarged their 80s horizon revealing an interesting shoegaze side.
Best songs: “When Winter’s Gone”, “Dreaming”, “Vanishing Smile”, “Strange Stranger”.
Rate: (7).
Artist: www.facebook.com/followmenotband
Label: www.unknown–pleasures–records.com / www.facebook.com/Unknown–Pleasures–Records-566180440115465
About Follow Me Not
Follow Me Not is a shoegaze, post-punk and coldwave band from France built around Nicolas Guerroué and Mik Chevalier. Discogs lists a run of self-released material between 2010 and 2016, including “Nothing’s Gonna Be Alright” (2010), “Revolution” (2011), “I’m Sorry But I Loved You” (2012) and “Soon” (2014), before the duo joined Unknown Pleasures Records for “If The Sky Remains” in 2017 and “We’re Dying” in 2018.
“Vanishing Smile” followed in 2020, again on Unknown Pleasures Records, as the band’s third full length for the label.
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