LP – Limited Edition Purple Vinyl. Much like the duos music, the story of Rural France is both mundane and magical. Tom Brown (also of transatlantic janglepunks Teenage Tom Petties) and Rob Fawkes moved to London in their mid-twenties. Despite living under the same roof, they never picked up a guitar except for one drunken, failed attempt at writing a Spoon song (Big Chops dont ask). It was only after both separately relocating to Wiltshire and starting families that they began assembling songs as a way of meeting up. Tom had amassed a pile of sprightly slacker jams that were calling out for Fawkes messily melodic guitar lines. Rural France was born.After a debut album on their hero, ex-Lemonhead Nic Daltons Half-a-Cow Records, they retreated to a garage to record their next two albums: RF (2021) and Exacamondo! (2024), both released on much-respected jangle label Meritorio Records. Despite being lo-fi in the truest GbV sense, both records were warmly received by the DIY indie blogosphere, with their short, scrappy, but supremely melodic songs landing on numerous AOTY lists. RF even won Album of the Year at Janglepop Hub.Raven Sings The Blues probably summed up the sound best: With drunken visions of Beach Boys harmonies playing in the back of their heads and hooks that consume Teenage Fanclub cheeriness with the same beautiful brevity that drives Tony Molina, the pair have knocked out eleven rumpled classics. Album four, SLOTHS, arrives via Meritorio Records and Safe Suburban Home Records on 08/05, and is a slightly different beast. For one, its been mixed by a professional Rob Slater (Westside Cowboy, Yard Act, Thank) giving the guitars and drums room to breathe. Its easily their most high-fidelity record to date. Its also their jangliest, most baroque and thoughtful album yet. But alongside added organ, horns and mellotron and drums from Toms Teenage Tom Petties bandmate Jeff Hamm it still retains the buzzes, hums and little freak-outs that stick to the duos original Pavement playing Teenage Fanclub mission statement. Rob and I both wanted to do something a little slower and a little more melancholy, says Tom. We resisted our usual urge to hit the distortion pedal and made something that fitted where we are now and celebrates how we still listen to Meatloaf when we get drunk. SLOTHS is also the most thematically consistent Rural France record to date. While it wouldnt be right to call it grown-up, it definitely has homeowners insurance. From the Silver Jews-esque Americana of Slab and mid-life rallying cry of Thirty Seven Forever, to the horn-embossed loser anthem Lonely Heart Pyramid Scheme, the songs celebrate (and rail against) the absurdities of getting older, forming a band in your thirties, and the strange phenomenon of time passing. Because no matter how slow you move, everything else goes fast. SLOTHS. Tracklist: 1.Slab2.Thirty-Seven Forever3.How You Gonna Get Even4.Someone You Forgot5.Lonely Heart Pyramid Scheme6.Soulseeker7.Jukebox Weepie8.Casio9.High Hopes (Ballad of Rural France)10.Electrical Tape