French Dogs feature thrilling indie rock with debut, “Here’s to Pretending”

You can definitely hear the hunger when French Dogs play. These aren’t desert cravings but pangs of hunger that any indie rock band worth their salt needs to have. When the 2025 single “Car Crash Lovers” became a hit, it was understood that they were voicing the confusion, angst, and bewilderment of generations. Solid Reddit reports rave about their infectious energy during live performances, and the band finally releases their debut album, ‘Here’s to Pretending’.

This is the same gut feeling I am sure Arctic Monkeys had when they started out. “Broken Glass” turned out to be a hot single, but they had to follow it up with something that would matter to the listeners. With guitar tones on a rhythm section that pairs like coffee with a croissant, French Dogs aren’t here to mumble metaphors into a microphone. They yell their feelings out, cutting through the noise and making you viscerally feel all the visuals they sing about.

Keeping the ante up

So when you listen to the second number on the album, “Here’s to Pretending”, something feels familiar. It’s a quintet, a group of five people who are friends first and band members later. The crunchy guitar section plays two familiar chords, and it’s enough to hook and reel you in. I’ll be damned, and I might be wrong, but the chorus for this felt like a song by The Smiths. The upbeat rhythm is maintained with ‘Tucker’s Having a Baby’. It’s seriously impressive how much attention has been paid to the quality of the tone, the kind of mix, and capturing that live instrument feel the band has been able to bring.

They capture the smaller things that cascade to the bigger things in life. The messages might be naive and simple, but it’s what makes us so fragile and human. The swinging beat in “Love Don’t Change Enough” is funky but keeps you waiting for the lyrics. Ben Spencer’s voice modulates in every song, either retreating to a mellow baritone or screaming with energy when the song calls for it. Think “Flicked from Brick Lane” has a nice ring to it? Wait till you listen to the song. French Dogs are superstars in their own right, finding a sound that not only raises a toast to their inspirations but also constructs a unique fingerprint around their recognisable melodies.

Thank god they don’t lock themselves up within the borders of the London indie scene. They have been touring feverishly because the best way to truly bring this energy out is live. Every song sounds tried, tested, and forged to perfection. I didn’t find a weak spot even in one place in this entire album. If this is what their debut sounds like, there is no telling what levels of stardom the fans are going to give them. Like they say, “fake it till you make it.” Here’s to pretending: