A horns-heavy, strangely-timed, bass-driven, quirky tour-de-force of an instrumental band.  Norwich-based Très Pantalon set out a head-turning manifesto with their debut album, Live From The Shed

Release Date:  28th November 2025

Label: Self Release

Format:  Digital

MASTERFUL, UPBEAT AND FUNKY

Hailing from Norwich, Très Pantalon are: Adam on bass, Jon on drums and synth, Matt on trumpets and flugelhorn, Tim on guitars and keys and the delightfully-monikered Tobe le Bone on – you’ve guessed it – trombone.  If you’re after any more detailed info about the band – surnames, for instance – then you’ll need to search cyberspace with a bit more diligence and competence than I’ve been able to muster.  Maybe, they just don’t want us to know…

French speakers will already have surmised that the band’s name translates roughly as ‘Very Pants.’  That’s a misnomer of monstrous proportions, because these guys are many things – words like masterful, upbeat and funky all come to mind.  But ‘pants?’  Definitely not.

FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS…

Très Pantalon take funk, punk, jazz, prog and classical influences and mould them together to produce a glorious sound in which the individual components might be discernable but in which the whole is entirely theirs.  It’s been described as “…a big brass sound, bass-driven and strangely-timed, with intricate drums and great interplay between the horns and guitar.”  And anyone reading that description will realise – this is a sound that has to heard to be believed.

Opening track, Seema, has been summarized as: “…a melting pot of prog, funk, big band and 780s TV themes,” and it’sREALLY something.  I’m instantly reminded of Zappa, early pre-schmaltz Chicago, Colosseum and lots of other bands from the late 60s and early 70s era, when jazz/rock experimentation was not only welcomed, but expected.  Every band member gets an early opportunity to shine and, whether they’re upfront or back in the shade, each member’s mastery is evident.  A melodic mid-section is sandwiched between two of the most frantically jazzy blasts that you’ll have heard all year and the message is loud and clear: “Fasten your seat belts – this is going to be one heck of a ride!”

9+ MINUTES OF EXCITEMENT

Guitar and bass provide the drive in the funky, punchy intro to Hunting, before the horns kick back in and blast away.  It’s all as tight as last year’s Speedos and Tim’s guitar solo is delicious.  Things do calm down after a couple of minutes and, once again, each member gets the chance to show off his melodic chops.  But nobody outstays their welcome…

The title to the epic Je Suis Fatigué translates as ‘I am tired,’ and who wouldn’t be after 9+ minutes of excitement like this?  It all starts gently enough., with keys and bass playing nicely together to set an early theme for the piece.  But, it isn’t long before we have lift-off.  Adam’s bass is super-funky, Tim’s piano is sleek and jazzy, the horns fill the gaps and, somehow, Jon’s drums manage to make sense of it all, in a tune that seems to have everything.

IT’S ALL SO VERY COHESIVE

Très Pantalon’s treatment of François Couperin’s 1717 baroque harpsichord suite, Les Amusements, is both respectful and highly adventurous.  Tim takes the lead on piano, whilst Adam sets the pace on bass.  Matt and Tobe add the brassy bombast and it’s lively and engaging, with lots of off-piste excitement – rocky rhythms and effects galore – to savour.

Something More Recognisable as Music is a tongue-in-cheek and, I suppose, self-deprecating title for what Très Pantalon clearly consider to be one of the album’s most accessible tunes.  In fact, there’s an awful lot packed into the piece – bags of funk, a melodic, dreamy guitar passage, jazzy hoots of horn and some hypnotic themes that don’t quite qualify as riffs.  And it’s all so very cohesive!

GRAND STATEMENTS IN BRASS

The Shirker, the album’s lead single, may be short, but it’s as sharp as a Swiss Army knife and as punchy as a Frank Bruno left-hook.  Smooth as silk and loaded with grand statements in brass, it’s a microcosm of what Très Pantalon are all about.

Clocking in at just under ten minutes, Born Free is the album’s longest track.  A spacy opening, with synth and choppy guitar chords opens the door to a dramatic, varied piece that would fit well as the soundtrack to an outrageous suspense movie.  The guys sound as though they’re having tremendous fun as they plough through this rag-bag of allsorts, taking in country-flavoured swing, fairground waltzes and several unhinged guitar solos along the way.  And it all comes to a head as Adam leads the charge to a striking ending.

GENTLY BACK TO EARTH…

Meaning ‘After the Deluge,’ Après le Deluge is a wholly appropriate title for Live From the Shed’s tuneful closing track.  The listener is brought gently back to Earth as Très Pantalon demonstrate that they’re just as comfortable with warm pastoralism as they are with wild experimentation.  But, by now, you’ll realise that, won’t you?  Guitar and horns are pared right back but, even so, there’s always a feeling that there’s one final wholehearted blast in store.  Is there?  You’ll have to listen to Live From the Shed to find out!

Live From the Shed is one of those albums that, quite literally, takes one’s breath away.  I can do no better that reuse the sentence that concludes the album’s Press Release: “Welcome to the world of Très Pantalon.  It is not really like most people’s words, for sure – but why settle for the mundane when you can live in a world as crazy and unpredictable as they do.”

Precisely.

Listen to The Shirker – the album’s lead single – below:

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