“Golden Frames” is the recently released full-length album by Princess Thailand, an extraordinary French quintet that will immediately grab your attention. It’s their third full-length that serves as an adequate continuation of a self-titled debut and “And We Shine,” two excellent works released in 2018 and 2020. Soundwise, Princess Thailand explore the rich and luxurious sonic universe of post-punk music, decorated with some of the finest properties borrowed from other complementary music genres. Still, they’re not another watered-down, repetitive, generic post-punk band you stumble upon every day. Quite the contrary, these folks offer fresh, unique, exciting take on the genre. With additional noise rock, no wave, indie rock, and art rock elements in their arsenal, Princess Thailand will immediately become your go-to band whenever you need marvelous post-punk music.
The brilliant ideas and exceptional musicianship make Princess Thailand standouts on the contemporary music scene. As soon as you press play, you’ll notice these folks are not joking around with their music. “Golden Frames” arrives like a colossal slab of well-organized noise, separated into ten exciting, often intricate, catchy compositions. Each number comes with an entire amalgam built upon magnificent sonic maneuvers, rhythmic structures, and vocal articulations capable of melting the hearts of even the pickiest post-punk fans. Of course, the outstanding vocal performance serves as a centerpiece of this material, emphasizing all the instrumentations with powerful shoutouts and harmonies that skillfully balance between low, mid, and high notes. These vocal harmonies decorate everything Princess Thailand tried to achieve with “Golden Frames” but also give a nice, thick layer of complexity over the top. You’ll immediately notice how guitars shine in the mix with all the wisely constructed, flawlessly performed, and excellently recorded chord progressions, riffs, themes, leads, and other sonic delicacies. These guitar works are sometimes melodic, sometimes noisy, depending on the current mood and occasion. The band cleverly figured out what works best for them, so they applied their ideas in all the right places.
As you probably know, the low-end notes play a significant role in the post-punk universe, so that’s the case on “Golden Frames” as well. You’ll hear how equally complex, vividly hearable, warm-sounding basslines serve as a binding element between guitars and drums, but also provide more than necessary heaviness, depth, and clarity to the mix. Princess Thailand thoroughly planned everything, so the rhythm section shines with mindblowing drumming performance based upon intricate, energetic, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics. Their rhythmic sequences offer groove and pace, but also keep the remainder of the instrumentations in line. Everything sounds top-notch thanks to the contribution of every band member, while the sound quality that meets all the trends in music production emphasizes their skillful performance. “Golden Frame” will instantly become your favorite post-punk record of the year thanks to the experience, knowledge, skills, talent, and ideas invested by these outstanding musicians. Their effort ultimately paid off in a marvelous full-length that exemplifies how modern post-punk music should sound nowadays. Also, it’s also good to mention that the gorgeous spynx cat decorates the front cover, so you should purchase this album if you’re also a cat lover. “Golden Frames” comes on white, clear, and black vinyl, but it’s also available on CD and streaming platforms. Pick your weapon of choice and blast this album as loud as possible. Head to A Tant Rêver Du Roi or Princess Thailand Bandcamp page for more information about ordering.
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