With their UK headline tour starting at the end of the month, France’s Unschooling release their debut album New World Artifacts via Bad Vibrations. It includes previous singles ‘Brand New Storm’ (video here), ‘Ribbon Road’ (video here), and ‘Excommunicated’ (video here).
Praise for Unschooling:
“a loud, glorious, unruly racket”
– NME ★★★★
“Armed with spiky guitar hooks and jagged instrumentals… the energy barely drops.”
– DORK
“They leap into melodic indie-pop, rowdy noise and beyond, and it’s this unpredictability inherent in the band that makes them so exciting”
– DIY
“French post-punk newcomers Unschooling deliver a lesson in experimentalism”
– Kerrang! Magazine
A 5-piece from Rouen, France, their debut album arrives following their 2021 Random Acts of Total Control EP and 2019’s Defensive Designs tape. It’s a collection of lo-fi post-punk clocking in at 30 minutes, underscored with subtle pop melodies and structures but never far away from bouts of anarchic no-wave dissonance. Here, Unschooling claim loud and clear their desire to return to a sound which is less calibrated, less obvious. As they themselves write, “New World Artifacts is an ode to the unexpected, a tribute to many art rock bands who are always where you least expect them. It is both noisy and sensitive. Hot and cold at once.”
The album was recorded mostly live in just a few sessions at a farmer friend’s DIY studio located in the Normandy countryside in late Summer 2022. In a busy year of heavy European touring and festival appearances, Vincent Fevrier (guitar/vocals) recalls that the recording process was almost as chaotic as the music itself with band members heading into the studio late at night.
For a record that might be chaotic and experimentally-grounded, it’s above all else a fun and entertaining listen that never takes itself too seriously. It’s for this reason that the band have already been heralded as one of the most exciting up-and-comers in the new school of post-punk revivalists, playing to busy crowds and festival fields across the continent. New World Artifacts might just mark them out as the best in class.
The band will set off on a UK headline tour this month through to November, with tickets on-sale now here.
Unschooling are:
Damien Tebbal: bass
Vincent Fevrier: lead vocals/guitar
Paul Morvant: guitar
Marc Lebreuilly: synth/guitar
Thomas Fromager: drums
New World Artifacts out now via Bad Vibrations Listen HERE
UNSCHOOLING TOUR-DATES
19/10 – Rennes, FR – Penny Lane
26/10 – Etagnieres, CH – Croc The Rock Festival
31/10 – Southampton, UK – Heartbreakers
01/11 – London, UK – The Lexington
02/11 – Sheffield, UK – Yellow Arch
03/11 – Manchester, UK – YES
04/11 – Glasgow, UK – The Great Western Festival
05/11 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
06/11 – Bristol, UK – Rough Trade Bristol
07/11 – Oxford, UK – The Jericho Tavern
08/11 – Brighton, UK – Green Door Store
08/12 – Rouen, FR – Le 106
14/12 – Paris, FR – La Maroquinerie
Tickets on-sale HERE
