Zen Ghost. Frenchy and the Punk

There's not much French about Frenchy and the Punk except that singer Samantha Stephenson was born in France. That's more than I can say, for one. Musically there's nothing French about the band as well. What I'm hearing is the (post)punk of the kind that was played in the U.K. around 1980. Dark moods, with the sky about to fall on top of us. Siouxie and the Banshees is the name the band seems to like to be associated with. I can't tell, I never liked the band. What I hear is some Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders style and a lighter version of early The Cure and Simple Minds. That sets the stage alright.

Frenchy and the Punks sure likes to wallow in music from a time long gone and that's just fine for me on Zen Ghost. Stephenson's voice is of a truly delightful kind of darkness. Part dark, part light. She has the perfect blend of the two, resulting in an album long listening fun.

The duo, guitarist Scott Helland is the other half, is from New York. It formed because Stephenson jumped on stage spontaneously during one of Helland's shows in 1998 and they are a duo since. With Zen Ghost as their seventh album. They play all instruments themselves, except for the bass. Despite this the album has a wide sound, spaciously mixed, allowing room for all instruments to be heard in a great way.

Although Frenchy and the Punk is a totally new name to me, their music, in an abstract way, is not. Fans from postpunk of 1980, give or take a few years, will recognise the style of music obviously. It is here the Zen Ghost story starts, not ends. There are so many nice moments where the band strays from the obvious. This is what makes Zen Ghost an album that is more interesting to listen to.

Promo photo: Alice Teeple

This can range from eastern melodies, to an acoustic ballad, an alternative one, sure, called 'Church of Sound', that puts Samantha Stephenson on a par with Hazel O'Connor singing 'Will You'? The song is only slightly less dramatic, the quality of singing comes extremely close. Mind, we are speaking of one of the very best singles of the early 80s here. 'Church of Sound' comes as a total surprise but is totally convincing. The fact that 'Come In And Play', the next song, is far more straight forward, is instantly forgivable, besides being a great song in its own right. Next to Hazel O'Connor Stephenson reminds me of, Dutch 1970s symphonic rock band, Earth & Fire's Jerney Kaagman as well. Another plus.

What amazes me most, is that Zen Ghost is an album with instant appeal to me in a sort of music that I sort of abhorred at the time. More, the bands that played the music at the time still are not interesting for me. The difference is the light a band like Frenchy and the Punk lets into the music. The music and the singing is simply so much lighter. There was no atomic threat, at least at the time Zen Ghost was written and recorded, that mood simply isn't in the songs. Neither is teenangst fresh on the minds of early 20 somethings. This makes all the difference in the world to me and to this band or so it comes across to me.

Zen Ghost is a varied album, allowing for some pop in its post punk. Add a singer with the quality of Samantha Stephenson and not a lot can go wrong and doesn't. Zen Ghost is a lot of fun.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and buy Zen Ghost here:

https://frenchyandthepunk.bandcamp.com/album/zen-ghost