Wisely they didn't rush to make their debut, coming out as it did two years after their first EP. The time they spent perfecting their craft paid off, with both a memorable first album and a reputation as an impressive live act.
Image au mur doesn't feel like a second album by a band on an independent label. But Grand Blanc are more than a regular band, and Disques Enterprise - home of Fishbach, Bagarre and Moodoïd and other French language acts - punches far above its weight.
There's a lot going on in Image au mur, again you get the feeling they've thought things through, worked at it and allowed things to develop. There are moments of epic rock, like in Ailleurs, but they avoid it being empty gesture. There are thoughtful passages, like the REM flavoured Télévision, but it never gets too introspective.
The production of Image au mur provides an elegant stage for the voices of Benoît David and Camille Delvecchio. In the best tradition of Depeche Mode and New Order, for all their use of technology and electronics, there is a humanity at the core of Grand Blanc that lifts them.
Belleville perhaps continues a tendancy for songs named after quartiers of Paris, a punchy and immediately likeable song with a stylish and sharp Paris punk flavour. Los Angeles a serious slice of electro pop and Rêve BB Rêve a nod perhaps to Depeche Mode and to New York electro-punk pioneers Suicide. Ailleurs might start with a 60s French pop feel, but soon moves into a widescreen epic place, before returning to more Cocteau Twins dreamscape.
Image au mur comes out not long after Grand Blanc supported French rock veterans Indochine at dates in arenas around France and beyond. Listening to the album, you can imagine the same respect and longevity ahead for Grand Blanc.
