*** Rural France is the project of Tom Brown (Teenage Tom Petties) and Rob Fawkes, who began writing songs together after both moving from London to rural Wiltshire and starting families. What started as a casual way to meet up soon turned into a band built around Tom’s scrappy slacker pop songs and Fawkes’ melodic, jangly guitar lines.After releasing their debut on Half-a-Cow Records, the duo recorded two lo-fi albums in a garage—RF (2021) and Exacamondo! (2024)—both released by Meritorio Records and warmly received by the DIY indie community for their short, melodic songs inspired by the spirit of Guided by Voices, Teenage Fanclub and Pavement.Their fourth album, SLOTHS (out May 8 via Meritorio), sees the band expanding their sound. Mixed by Rob Slater, it’s their clearest and most expansive record yet, adding organ, horns and mellotron while keeping the jangly, scruffy charm that defines Rural France. The songs reflect on getting older, time passing, and the strange realities of adult life—thoughtful, melodic indie rock with heart and humor.
LP $20.85
05/08/2026
***Following an enthusiastic response to their 2021 album, RF—JanglePopHub’s AOTY no less—fuzz-loving jangle duo Rural France returned to their Wiltshire garage with a new confidence. Together, Tom Brown (of slacker indie punks Teenage Tom Petties) and Rob Fawkes have self-recorded a follow-up that’s a little wilder, a little more unpredictable, but just as wonderfully melodic and heart swelling. Exactamondo! takes the Teenage Fanclub, Lemonheads and GbV influences that informed RF and twists them into something more distinct. Driven by bombastic drumming and Fawkes’ distinctive Mascis-esqe guitar lines, each lo-fi gem pulls you in with tunes that make you smile, before Brown’s lyrics give you a little dig in the ribs. Pressed on pink vinyl.
LP $20.25
05/24/2024
***RURAL FRANCE—a collaboration between TOM BROWN and ROB FAWKES that began in 2017 as they both adapted to leaving London for the greener climes of Wiltshire, UK. Armed with a bunch of jangly demos, roughly hewn in numerous bedrooms and garages, they made their first album Two Drink Maximum in 2018, released on legendary Australian label Half a Cow. After releasing the follow-up Damp Spirit EP, the duo decided to forgo the studio to make their next record in Rob’s garage. Inspired by the hissy ‘if it sounds good it is good’ aesthetic of Guided By Voices, they set about recording a batch of songs that refracted the Beach Boys, GBV and Teenage Fanclub through the cynical lens of getting older. With its dry lyricism, warped fuzz guitars and buzzing synths, RF is the sound of Rural France distilled; an ode to both the pop nuggets of the 60s and the collective shoulder shrug of the 90s. Tom says: “The songs were mostly written during the heatwave of 2018, spurred on by Beach Boys bootlegs and a World Cup. Half-drunk on the sun and Brian Wilson’s genius, I’d make the short journey from the garden to my guitar to try and get down some vague ideas that were forming in the haze of that sweltering suburban summer.” Pressed on yellow vinyl.
LP $19.95
07/15/2022