NOT SCIENTISTS (F)

Not Scientists was created ten years ago in the shadow of the French Alps by guitarists Ed and Jim, freshly orphaned from French melodic-punk titans Uncommonmenfrommars. After adding Le Bazile (No Guts No Glory) and Thibault (Unco tour manager/babysitter) to round out the rhythm section, the four friends embarked on a brand new adventure from the ashes of the old. Destroy to rebuild, play to exist.
With crystalline guitars and unstoppable melodies, they followed the playbook of the Punk-Rock circuit from which they were born and raised: record a first EP (Leave Stickers on our Graves) as an introduction. Tour tirelessly. Release a first album (Destroy to Rebuild). Tour tirelessly. After a few years, tour tired, but keep touring.
The split EP shared with the legendary Hard- Ons in 2017 hinted at the tone of their second album released the next year on the German labels Kidnap Music and Rookie Records. With slower tempos and New Wave influences, the broadened palette displayed on Golden Staples is surprising and captivating.
As they gained a solid reputation for excellent recordings and engaging performances, the band toured more and more outside of France, supporting both The Flatliners and Ducking Punches on Europe-wide jaunts. But France was not forgotten, with a French circuit in the Fall of 2019 shared with Johnny Mafia celebrating the release of their split 7’’ EP. December of that year marked the departure of Thibault (replaced by Julien from… No Guts No Glory) and a pause to the interminable touring owing the band’s desire to breathe a little after almost five years of uninterrupted activity.
The first lockdown linked to the global pandemic made their voluntary and temporary break from touring both mandatory and more lengthy than they had intended. They took full advantage of the enforced isolation and idleness to fully explore their creative process. Staring At the Sun is the gleaming result.
Renewing their confidence in Santi Garcia from the Ultramarinos Costa Brava studio, the four musicians eagerly accepted the risk of a sound engineer hungry for new sounds, and new sounds is exactly what they got.
Staring at the Sun is an ode to New Wave melodies – a tribute to The Cure and Killing Joke – and is the flagship of a band that is driving hard into uncharted seas. «Like Gods We Feast» or «Secrets» sum up the fantastic change of direction: the addition of loops and synthesizers, the persistence of an indestructible rhythm section, the intertwining counterpoint of sparkling guitar melodies…
These guys know how to write good songs – that’s a fact. Above all, they know how to give them a soul by balancing the power of their sound with the immediacy of refined lyrics. Clear and powerful imagery addresses themes of failure, loneliness, isolation, and mental illness. It is the too-familiar experience of a day-to-day that grinds on to the point of giving up but for the tiny pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel that keeps you clawing forward.
When you ask Ed Scientist if this record could be the perfect mix of the first two albums, the guitarist/vocalist does not share this point of view: «I wouldn’t say that. I consider Staring at the Sun to be a real evolution of our style. With the help of Santi – who carried out a production masterpiece – we took a leap and dared things that we had never tried before.»
Backed by Kicking Records, Not Scientists have left the beaten path and are careening headlong into the creative underbrush, blazing a new path and leaving shredded convention in their wake.