Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now!

And now, for something completely different.

Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now! (EWITFRN) are an ‘answer song band’ from Los Angeles. ‘Answer song band’ is a term I had never heard before discovering these guys, but apparently it’s just a term used to describe bands who write songs in response to music from other artists. EWITFRN don’t exactly do parody songs (read: they don’t just change lyrics around and keep the melody the same), instead their music more subtly references other songs. 

Their debut album is suitably titled ‘Fixing The Charts, Volume 1’, and is intended to right the mistakes of pop music of the past. Artists in their sights include Kanye West, Michael Jackson, and Avril Lavigne. EWITFRN is a bit of a sideproject, featuring Eddie Argos, the front man and lyricist of Art Brut and his girlfriend, Dyan Valdes of Blood Arm. No-one really knows if you’re meant to take their music seriously, but that’s just part of the fun.

This track is called Think Twice (It’s Not Alright), which is of course a not-so-subtle nod towards Dylan’s classic Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright). The song is about someone desperately trying to convince their partner not to break up, and is very well-written. The strength of EWITFRN is not in humorous parody, rather it lies in the fact that their music is very enjoyable, even ignoring its intertextual nature. And when the song carries into a tongue-in-cheek rendition of U2’s With Or Without You, well that can only be a good thing.

This version of the track is taken from the band’s recent Daytrotter session, which can be downloaded for free here. I’m not even sure if I like EWITFRN or not, but it is at the very least refreshingly different music that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and this song in particular is pretty cool.