Aotearoa's dream-pop group French for Rabbits third LP The Overflow. arrives via a multitude of imprints — AAA records (NZ/AUS), Reckless Yes (UK) and A Modest Proposal (Italy) — and is out in digital formats, CD, and on limited-edition vinyl.
The album follows on from their elegantly stated second LP The Weight of Melted Snow and their 2014 break-out Spirits.
Over the past months, the band has worked alongside prolific director Martin Sagadin to create a new universe in which the music lives; 'The Overflow,' 'Ouija Board,' 'The Outsider' and 'Walk the Desert' finding their forever home in this world.
Led by songwriter and producer Brooke Singer, the project came to life when she started working with guitarist John Fitzgerald in the coastal township of Waikuku Beach back in 2012. His minimalist, shimmering guitar lines proved to be the backbone of their early work, and over the years the band has expanded to include multi-instrumentalists Ben Lemi and Penelope Esplin alongside drummer Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa. The Overflow was recorded with NZ producer/musician Jol Mulholland (Tami Neilson, Neil Finn, Delaney Davidson, Troy Kingi) in Wellington at The Surgery and in Auckland at The Lab, with mastering by Carl Saff in Chicago.
On the album, the group offer up their most compelling, vibrant work. Recorded in 2020, but written across the years prior, the songs on The Overflow explore contemporary themes from digital dystopias ('Passengers'), climate change ('Nothing in my Hands'), to having it all ('Money or the Bag') but ultimately this is a work portraying the world through an introvert’s lens.
Brooke Singer (vocalist/producer) says of the record, “I wrote these songs sitting on my bed, at my piano, and on some trips overseas where I got to explore songwriting in more detail than I have before - a chance to push the boundaries. The band pulled them apart and put them back together, and I’m really proud of what we all made - this reflection of self.
It's hopefully, like a warming cup of tea, but accompanied by a very serious newspaper….something that makes you calm, but also makes you think”.