It’s always a good day when Rural France release a new record, even if the rest of the world still hasn’t fully caught on. Maybe album number four finally changes that, because SLOTHS feels like the easiest entry point yet into the band’s quietly brilliant world (read previous reviews on the band here and there).
This is the kind of underground gem people spend countless hours digging for. Rural France excel at understated slacker anthems filled with warmth, self-doubt, dry humor, and melodies that sneak up on you. The title fits too. Tom Brown (Teenage Tom Petties) and Rob Fawkes write songs for the undecided, those still weighing up love, life, and the path of least resistance. Lonely Hearts Pyramid Scheme, already one of the great song titles of 2026, comes with an instant earworm chorus to match.
Despite the title, SLOTHS is never sluggish. Instead, it finds the duo stretching their sound in subtle but rewarding ways. Organ, horns, and mellotron add new color throughout, building on the more expansive songwriting Brown displayed as Lone Striker. Opener Slab especially stands out, pairing sweet, timeless harmonies with the kind of casually perfect melody Rural France seem incapable of not writing.
While SLOTHS still comfortably fits alongside the band’s jangly, lo-fi slacker indie rock catalog, it also feels richer, fuller, and more fully realized than anything they’ve released before.
Today is a very good day to fall in love with Rural France.
The LP is out now on Meritorio Records and Safe Suburban Home, who also just released that fine new Sumos EP.