Chicago synth-pop trio French Inhaler are showcasing their debut album, Practiced Lines. Right from the opening moments, the record sets the mood, kicking off with a brief spoken word intro before starting a long, atmospheric post-punk trip. The band builds their entire sound on pure forward momentum, packing most tracks with fast paced, high energy beats. Adding to that pulse you often hear some 16th-note hi-hat layers, giving the fast BPM grooves an extra layer of intensity.
When it comes to handling the low end, the band sticks to a classic recipe. Instead of merely covering the bottom of the mix, the bass guitar operates more like a rhythm guitar or a secondary synth line, delivering intricate, melodically active phrases across every single chord change. To make room for it, the sub-frequencies are intentionally EQ’d down, allowing the upper-midrange attack and treble to cut clean through the mix.
The simple yet effective chord progressions make the album’s core themes feel instantly accessible without reaching for anything too unconventional. Because there isn’t a guitar layer on the record, the synthesizers are left to carry all that extra harmonic weight, giving the trio a distinct feel compared to a typical new wave setup. And without guitars taking up mid-range space, the analog synths do all the heavy lifting, operating in multiple layers across every track. Bright, slightly detuned lead sounds lay down many of the album’s central thematic motifs while other layers push the songs forward with rapid, driving arpeggios. Beneath those, beautiful synth pads sit in the background, working as an atmospheric glue that introduces a deeply melancholic vibe into the sound.
On top of these heavy synth arrangements is an expressive vocal delivery that has a raw quality. With thick reverb effects, the lead vocals carry an emotional intensity while that feeling of vast space is expanded even further by backing vocal arrangements, which double the lead vocal line to generate a wide, echoing soundscape.
The record plays like a forgotten 1985 gem that somehow slipped through the cracks of time.
We really wonder where they got their name, but that’s a story to uncover in a future interview.
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