Chester French: "Love the Future" Review
By Abby Johnston

It’s not enough to go to college anymore. As bachelor degrees are now being reduced to having all the prestige of a high school diploma, even those attending the most prestigious of colleges have been preparing a back-up plan. To insure they would see financial success in a drained economy, recent Harvard graduates D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey signed a record deal with Pharrell Williams’ Star Trak/Interscope. Oh, the academic advisor meant something along the lines of grad school? Fortunately for us, Chester French did not get the memo.

In their debut album, Love the Future, the Ivy League duo picks and chooses pop influences from throughout the decades to create a treat out of what should have been musical goulash. There is the occasional awkward moment where the rich sound crosses from a lovable over-the-top to the outright ridiculous, and the genre-blending and splicing is hard to follow, but the 13 song pop medley is held together with an unmistakable hip-hop influence that has Pharrell’s fingerprints all over it. With the heavily drawn on ‘60s pop influence comes a curious familiarity, while simultaneously being an innovative sound that is done with the ease and casual pomp that results indubitably from the coaching of the N.E.R.D hold steady, Williams.

Love the Future’s first single, “She Loves Everybody,” is a fair representation of what Chester French is all about. It combines pop in its purest form with the funk of Mo-Town, all rolled together with socially conscious lyrics advocating safe sex (Well she craves affection/So I use protection…). Other tracks sure to get some love on the airwaves include the comparably hard rocking “Bebee Buell” and the inescapably catchy “Jimmy Choos,” which, despite its misogynist message, will be sure to soundtrack a socialite’s shopping trip. Chester French riddles their lyrics with sexual overtones and a dismissive attitude towards women – but don’t let that fool you. Underneath Wallach’s passive singing voice is the jaded lament of a former geek (perhaps a girl turned him down for prom?), that makes the too-cool-for-school attitude all the more endearing.

Chester French is not without their share of unabashed love songs, though. The search for a girl to help Chester French relax, “Time to Unwind,” utilizes the sweet sound that the Beach Boys coined, paying homage to the 1960s. The suddenly serious “Fingers” is a display of Chester French’s songwriting ability, which is disguised under their mockingly simple lyrics that are often hard to embrace. The stripped piano driven eloquences of “Fingers” would sound at home alongside tracks from piano rocker Ben Folds, offering a surprising simplicity among songs with endless layers of instruments.

Chester French sprinkles musical intermissions throughout Love the Future. The self-explanatory “Strings Interlude” demonstrates impressive talent from the multi-instrumental Drummey, but the sloppy “Country Interlude,” overshoots its mark with the fuzzy, garbled noise that seems to drag through its five minute spot. The odd choice for the opener, “Introduction,” can only be explained as Chester French’s way of assuring listeners right off the bat that they are, indeed, the urbane Harvard graduates that they claim to be. The simple, singularly layered Portuguese song is not indicative of the remainder of the record in the least. Although the pleasant, Devendra Banhart-esque crooning is done well, it may betray the rest of the pop-rooted songs to the point that it serves as a misleading opener.

Chester French admittedly has attempted to make a record that can crossover to the mainstream, making Love the Future both “accessible and challenging.” While assuredly the singles will fair well, the album’s success on the pop charts as a whole remains to be seen. Questions of the accessibility aside, Chester French has managed to make a solid debut with a polish that many bands work years on labels trying to achieve. While one hopes their dreams of challenging pop music gracing the likes of MTV will come true, we can rest easy on the behalf of Chester French - at least they have that education to fall back on.

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