It is a travesty to me that the Gascon farmers The Inspector Cluzo remain almost unheard of in the UK. Their tenth album is unlikely to change that or send them crashing into the upper echelons of the UK top 40, but I doubt if these talented musicians will worry about it.
The Inspector Cluzo – Less Is More
Release Date: 6 June 2025
Words: Paul Hutchings
No, their focus is more likely to be where their main concern has been ever since they put out their self-titled debut in 2008. That of the challenges facing them in their organic farming and maintaining their own independent approach to their music.
Self-sufficient and self-financing, this is a band who have played well over 1000 shows in 70+ countries, toured with the likes of Clutch and are adored in Japan.
Regardless, the duo of Malcolm (Laurent Lacronts) on guitar/vocals and Phil (Mathieu Jourdain) on drums/backing vocals have ripped out another superb album that follows on from 2023’s excellent Horizon.
They returned to Vance Powell in Nashville to record Less Is More. Recorded live in a mere four days, they are once again at their organic best, demonstrating their power, which makes their live sets such a compelling occasion.
Less Is More draws from the inspiration that the band take from Henry David Thoreau, a 19th-century American naturalist, essayist, poet and philosopher whose book Walden, charts his experiences living in solitude in a cabin for two years and Civil Disobedience guided Martin Luther King and Gandhi.
They also take in the works of 20th-century philosopher Guy Debord, known for his 1967 essay, The Society Of The Spectacle, a book as relevant today as it was when it first came out.
Less Is More is a brilliant piece of work. It contains all the charm and grit that The Inspector Cluzo always have possessed, but with more refinement to their songwriting. Something that happens on every subsequent release.
The raucous fuzzed-up style is straight in your face with opener We Win Together, I’m Losing Alone, with Lacronts’ vocals immediately catching the ear.
If you do not know the band, their ruddy outdoor appearance may surprise you. If you do know them, then this album is a delight. As Stupid As You Can throws in a gorgeous riff that has you humming for hours, whilst the laid-back funked vibe of Catfarm expands and contracts as it progresses.
Underneath some of the humorous lyrics, there are serious messages. But alongside the band’s bristling anger at the environmental impact of super farms and corporations that squeeze them, The Inspector Cluzo are incredibly good musicians who make this two-piece style sound easy. It is not, for sure.
Rules blatantly steals the refrain from Sepultura’s Roots. But with a chunky riff getting the head nodding along, you can lose yourself in the band’s seismic approach and ignore any minor plagiarism.
Less Is More may be the title, but this is an album that is full to the brim with quality. It is impossible not to feel uplifted by Thoreau, with the high-pitched vocals and driving riffs, or join in the bluesy stomp of The Greenwashers, with its fighting lyrics.
The Inspector Cluzo combine so many elements in their music that one cannot help but feel that there is something here for everyone, and once again, you scratch your head at why they are playing such small venues later in the year.
There are bits of Neil Young, Van Morrison, Johnny Cash, Lou Reed, Clutch and a million others tucked away in The Inspector Cluzo’s sound.
The gentler lilt of the title track explodes into a maelstrom of chaos, addictive stuff that gets you nodding along in no time. Humour is back with Almost Cut My Hair before they close in calming mode with their final story, Journey Men.
Unique in outlook, ethos and delivery, by rights, there is no reason why The Inspector Cluzo should be releasing their tenth album.
But the fact is that they have got it right. That keeps them producing music and their geese farm turning over produce.
It is a tough road, alright, but this is a band who are well equipped for the continued journey.
The Inspector Cluzo’s 10th LP- Less Is More – will Be Released on the 6 June 2025 via F.The Bass Player Records/Virgin UK International. Visit here for more details. 
