Francobollo - Long Live Life

Having quietly gathered a following during festival season last summer, Francobollo (Italian for ‘postage stamp’, fact fans) arrive with a debut record which embodies the joy, passion and chaos of the bands live shows. ‘Long Live Life’ is a collection of rough and ready tracks with infectious melodies at their core.

The record channels rock and roll in its many varieties – from the pure punk of ‘Trees’ and ‘Radio’ to the prog stylings of ‘You Know This’. ‘Kinky Lola’ sounds like a song dreamed up at 3am, frontman Simon Nilsson bemoaning ‘popstar wannabees straight from the eighties’ over hazy, psychedelic guitars. ‘Worried Times’, meanwhile, comes to life in bursts and culminates in distortion-induced chaos.

Bursts of feedback and lengthy instrumental breakdowns give ‘Long Live Life’ a sense of spontaneity. While at the heart of many of these songs lies conventional song structures, there’s an inescapable feeling that you haven’t heard a band quite like Francobollo before.

By the time the record’s dreamy, palette-clearing centre-piece ‘USO’ comes around it’s hard not to be converted. Long Live Francobollo.