The French are a British rock band, formed by

Darren Hayman Darren Hayman (born 1 December 1970) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the writer, lead singer, and guitarist in Hefner. Since Hefner disbanded in 2002, Hayman has embarked on a prolific solo career releasing t ...

and John Morrison after the band Hefner declared an indefinite hiatus. Musically there is a specific continuity between Hefner and the French, which is manifested not only in the lyrics and compositions but also in the use of vintage drum machines and

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, an aesthetic choice that was very present in Hefner's last recordings. The French released one album, ''Local Information'', on

Too Pure Too Pure was a London-based independent record label formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox. The label gained prominence after the release of PJ Harvey's debut album '' Dry'' in 1992, and subsequently found further success in the late ...

in 2003. Their most recent work together was a

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

session in August 2004. Since then Darren Hayman has been involved in a legal dispute with Too Pure, and has subsequently launched a solo career. He intends to re-release ''Local Information'' and possibly other material by the French. Like Hefner before them, the French are now on an indefinite hiatus.

Discography

Albums

* ''Local Information'' (2003)

Singles and EPs

* "Dagenham" (2003) * "Porn Shoes" (2003)

References

External links

2005 interview with Darren Hayman touching on the future prospects for the French
English rock music groups {{UK-rock-band-stub