''French Exit'' is the debut studio album by American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band

TV Girl TV Girl is an American indie pop band from San Diego, California, consisting of Brad Petering, Jason Wyman, and Wyatt Harmon. The group is now based in Los Angeles. Though they failed to break into the critical mainstream, TV Girl has amassed a ...

. It was released on June 5, 2014 and follows the release of their first mixtape ''The Wild, The Innocent, The TV Shuffle'' and their third EP ''Lonely Women''. The band describe the album's songs as "about lost lust, too much love and not enough." The album cover is an edited photo taken from Mary Lee Gowland's 1969 poetry collection, ''Tender Bough''. In the album’s liner notes, it is stated that the image was taken by Mary's father,

Peter Gowland Peter Andrew Gowland (April 3, 1916 – March 17, 2010) was a famous American glamour photographer and actor. He was known for designing and building his own studio equipment and was active professionally for six decades with his business par ...

, and used as the album cover with her permission. The album would later receive a rise in virality through

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

, or the song "Lovers Rock" from the album particularly. "Lovers Rock" has over 700 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

as of 2024.

Promotion

Tour

In March 2020, the band announced tour dates in support of the "six-and-a-half" year anniversary of ''French Exit'', originally starting on April 23, 2020 and concluding on July 23, 2020, which would later be postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The band announced new tour dates for the ''French Exit 6.5 Year Anniversary'' tour, with Jordana as an opening act for some shows. The tour started in September 22, 2021 and concluded in December 18, 2021.

Reception

''French Exit'' was called "remarkably solid" by ''Bandwagon Magazine''. The album was also referred as "refreshing, relaxing, and cynical" by KSUA Radio.

KRUI-FM KRUI-FM (89.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Variety format. Located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States, the station is licensed to Student Broadcasters Inc. KRUI began at the University of Iowa in 1952 as KWAD, and in 1968 the station' ...

described the album as one with "melodic hooks, prosaic lyrics, and innovative sampling".

Track listing

Sample credits * "Birds Don't Sing" contains samples of "Seven Minutes in Heaven", performed by

the Poni-Tails The Poni-Tails were an American musical trio formed in Lyndhurst, Ohio. They are known for their 1958 major hit " Born Too Late". History Formed in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, the Poni-Tails – Toni Cistone, Karen Topinka and Patti McCabe ...

. * "Lovers Rock" contains samples of "The Dance is Over", performed by

the Shirelles The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McFadd ...

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''French Exit''. * Brad Petering – vocals, songwriting, recording, production, mixing * Jason Wyman – recording, production, mixing, mastering * Mat Cothran – songwriting (track 8) * Dan Komin – bass and guitar (tracks 3 and 12) * Faith Harding – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4-5, 8-9, 11) * Trung Ngo – additional vocals (tracks 2 and 4) * Ally Hasche – additional vocals (track 3) * Wyatt Harmon – additional vocals (track 11) * Madison Acid – artwork design *

– photography (used with permission from her daughter Mary Lee Gowland)

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2014 debut albums TV Girl albums Self-released albums