Freschard and Stanley Brinks - Iron Eye

by Helen Tipping

published: 19 / 1 / 2024

Label: Fika Recordings
Format: LP

Reflective and gentle Euro indie pop on vinyl only joint third album between French-born duo Freschard and Stanley Brinks

Review

I’ve had a soft spot for Freschard and Stanley Brinks. For quite a while now, their gentle Euro indie pop always makes me feel like I’m on holiday. This album is no different. With its Mediterranean vibe, it feels like I’m by the beach on the afternoon with a pina colada or a cold beer. ‘Cold Beer’, being one of the songs on this album, is about just that – that’s mostly how simple the songs are. Some songs are slightly melancholy as if it’s the last days of the holiday and soon it will be time to fly home to the cold and damp of a UK summer, I mean winter. Other songs, like ‘Prize’, a straightforward love song, are more upbeat, and then it’s an evening in a town square bar with friends. Drinking is generally involved in my imaginings, but I get the impression that it always is with Freschard ans Stanley Brinks too. At least it has been whenever I’ve seen them play. Sadly, that’s usually in Wakefield, Halifax or Huddersfield, but maybe one day I’ll get to see them in surroundings more fitting to their melodies. There’s not really anything new happening on this album, but that’s not why people listen to them, they’re just after some tales of love, drinking and often silliness, such as ’Waiting’, which sees Stanley Brinks waiting for his Martian girlfriend on a football field, but I’m picturing a football field in the sun, not a cold British one. Freschard and Stanley Brinks are giving me hope for a time when it won’t be cold, the rain will stop, and I’ll get to lie in the sunshine and drink cold beers.

Track Listing:-

1 Save me
2 Great minds
3 Prize
4 Caramba
5 Bar piscina
6 Swimming
7 Song of Moses
8 Magic of love
9 Iron eye
10 Cold beer
11 JMJ
12 Waiting

Band Links:-

https://fikarecordings.com/stanley-bri

Label Links:-

http://fikarecordings.com/
https://www.facebook.com/fikarecording
https://twitter.com/fikarecordings
http://www.last.fm/label/Fika+Recordin
https://www.youtube.com/user/fikarecor