Swimming floats along through 12 pulse-slowing tracks of two-note arpeggios and ever-repeating drumbeats, layered in a manner that obviously sought hypnotic suspension but stumbled a step further into napping and/or comas. It's some kind of accomplishment to make an album so incredibly boring, though. In that field, French Kicks have no competition. I mean, it's almost like they were trying to set the standard for how not to have fun.

Like what's with the single guitar note that makes up the verse to the opener "Abandon?" Where did the guitar even go on "Over the World?" And how about that single guitar note verse, again, on "The Way You Arrive"? I might never have been so bored in my life.

The vocalist pretty much is Win Butler from Arcade Fire, but with a frailty in his stretch for higher notes that's more reminiscent of Tapes N Tapes (remember them?). Basically everything on here is just a rehash of something that already happened in the last few years on somebody else's album. It definitely is interesting observing the balance between bass and treble on tracks like "Said So What", but it was definitely already interesting when Interpol did it, or even the Hives.

So as for originality points, it's like reviewing Sixteen Stone by Bush – on the Godawful Scale, I probably could find something that disgusted me worse, I guess, but in light of the not-so-subtle Nirvana cloning, I'm not so sure. Releases like this keep the indie scene stagnant when the whole purpose of being "independent" is to lead rather than follow. If you've got $20, go buy Arcade Fire's landmark Funeral. And then check out the French Kicks MySpace if you still feel wanting.

Need To Come Down From Something? www.myspace.com/frenchkicks

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