Birmingham trio Johnny Foreigner’s first release on Best Before Records ‘Arcs Across The City’ EP received perfect reviews just about anywhere you look. Drowned in Sound and This Is Fake DIY all gave it 10 out of 10 so to follow up those reviews was always going to be difficult. The album which came out at the beginning of June did not receive the same type of perfect reviews from those websites but still scored very highly, and rightfully so.
Personally the record was a breath of fresh air and because I’d not heard all the demo’s that everyone else was bumming for ages it made the album better. A lot of the songs which I thought were new songs were in fact old songs and many people I spoke to stated the old demos were better, but isn’t that always the case?
Johnny Foreigner are not just another generic indie band who crop up all the time, Johnny Foreigner are definitely different and have made a bold statement with this album. The album is definitely a lot heavier than most indie records around at the moment and the thing I love about the album is that it sounds great when you turn it up extremely loud. I hate the rock cliché hand gesture but when you listen to this album you do feel like doing that. Heck during several of the songs I even attempt to rock out, metal style.
‘Salt, Pepa And Spinderella’ is about half-way through the album and provides a slightly less heavy sound until about 2 minutes in when the heavy sound kicks in again. ‘Yes! You Talk Too Fast’, ‘DJs Get Doubts’, ‘Lea Room’, ‘Cranes And Cranes And Cranes And Cranes’ and ‘Hennings Favourite’ are all 2/3 minutes of stomping beautiful guitar music. ‘Waited Up ‘til It Was Light’ is probably my favourite British debut album of the year.
9/10
Personally the record was a breath of fresh air and because I’d not heard all the demo’s that everyone else was bumming for ages it made the album better. A lot of the songs which I thought were new songs were in fact old songs and many people I spoke to stated the old demos were better, but isn’t that always the case?
Johnny Foreigner are not just another generic indie band who crop up all the time, Johnny Foreigner are definitely different and have made a bold statement with this album. The album is definitely a lot heavier than most indie records around at the moment and the thing I love about the album is that it sounds great when you turn it up extremely loud. I hate the rock cliché hand gesture but when you listen to this album you do feel like doing that. Heck during several of the songs I even attempt to rock out, metal style.
‘Salt, Pepa And Spinderella’ is about half-way through the album and provides a slightly less heavy sound until about 2 minutes in when the heavy sound kicks in again. ‘Yes! You Talk Too Fast’, ‘DJs Get Doubts’, ‘Lea Room’, ‘Cranes And Cranes And Cranes And Cranes’ and ‘Hennings Favourite’ are all 2/3 minutes of stomping beautiful guitar music. ‘Waited Up ‘til It Was Light’ is probably my favourite British debut album of the year.
9/10
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