Ante Bye offers a moody and atmospheric listening experience, inspired by friendship and mischief. 

Last year Call Me Franco released their debut EP Fabric Street, a compilation of supernatural tracks that incited a dance that had you looking over your shoulder at the same time. Since that release, the band have stepped up their game, honing their genre and finding exactly where their music sits. 

Inspired by a trip the band member Ernesto took to Sweden with some friends, Ante Bye by Call Me Franco feels like a well-polished upgrade to their previous drop with more sophisticated production and a feeling of familiarity with their instrumentation. 

The perfect EP to accompany an action-packed movie. 

If I were to ask you what the objective best film of all time is, of course, your answer would be the 2002 live-action mystery film, Scooby-Doo. Call Me Franco’s Ante Bye would feel perfectly logical as the soundtrack to this film, offering a 6-track thrill ride that plays as though a riddle is exposing itself throughout, the first half feeling darker while the second half unfolds into action. I mean this with the highest of compliments.

Call Me Franco, composed of Ernesto, Fin, and Adham, have undertaken the task of pumping life into a genre that many may not be too familiar with. A sort of love child of psychedelic rock and, what can only be described as, spooky Halloween music.

Ante Bye’s tracklist each tells its own story that feeds into the overarching narrative.

Ante Bye opens with ‘Shot on Sight,’ an almost 6-minute long track that immediately raises eyebrows with curious sounds emerging from the darkness. The song does a delicious job of building up the spooky atmosphere and opens up the tale of the EP nicely. I could almost imagine ‘Shot on Sight’ accompanying a scene of explorers tracking through the jungle in search of lost treasure. 

The use of wailing guitars combines the musical know-how of Muse, the melody-making of Frankie & The Witch Fingers, and the whimsical storytelling of The Mighty Boosh.

Tracks 2 and 3 evolve the EPs narrative further, jumping to a more playful atmosphere in ‘Franco’s Sauna’ to what feels like an action sequence in ‘I Hope It’s Not Blood’. The music takes you from a raging party straight into a proactive melody, encouraging you to explore the more devilish corners of your identity.

At the very end of ‘I Hope It’s Not Blood,’ the excitement terminates and leads on to ‘Psychotherapy,’ a more relaxed and placid track. ‘Psychotherapy’ feels like a contemporary homage to Pink Floyd without coming across as a blatant rip-off. It materialises as more of a love for the genre rather than a fraudulent hack job. 

The final two tracks ‘Hot Tub Surf’ and ‘Ante Bye’ are an apt conclusion to the EP with track 5 developing into a chase scene, as though the coaster version of the mystery gang are fleeing from someone knowing that they’re always going to be one step ahead. 

An ending that offers the listener a moment to reflect. 

‘Ante Bye’ is my personal highlight. There’s a moment captured where the music takes a back seat and instead a grumble of indiscernible chatter comes to the foreground. I envisioned myself in the bathroom of a party, the excitement of the adventure we’ve just experienced digesting as I stare at myself in the mirror; the people and the music continuing without my presence. Of course, the track also features a fabulous guitar solo which will never go down poorly in my book. 

The EP perfectly condenses the feeling of mucking about with your buddies, causing mischief, and having the time of your life within the 6 tracks. The smirks friends share when they’re about to do something they’re not supposed to is how best I would describe the journey of Ante Bye – that feeling of adrenaline right before you say “fuck it.” 

If you’re looking for an EP that offers a flavour of nostalgia while keeping a fresh and original sound, Ante Bye by Call Me Franco is streaming on all your music platforms.