Arcs Across The City,
Johnny ForeignerI’ll start this review by making a bold statement: Johnny Foreigner are without doubt the most exciting band I have happened to stumble upon within… well… since I can remember. I am very, very excited about the future of this band, and if you’ve got a pair of functional ears then you should be too.
They bear the trademark guitar parts of ‘In Casino Out’ era At The Drive-In with the driving bass lines of Million Dead (and that’s not because there’s a girl playing bass, I’m not that lazy!) layered with some of the best male/female duel vocal combinations I’ve ever heard. The thing is, their influences are so far flung that the result is stunningly unique and thankfully undoubtedly British.
The male vocalist sounds like a boyish Kele Okereke who’s been eating too many smarties… but in a good way. His melodies on ‘Champagne Girls I Have Known’ ‘Yes! You Talk Too Fast’ and ‘Sofa core’ carry the songs into potential ‘classic’ territory. In truth every song on this short-player is fantastically diverse, and from the result of ‘Arcs Across the City’ JF are owed a long and well loved future by fans throughout the UK underground and could well refill the gaping hole left the by the dearly departed Million Dead.
Anyone that knows me will know that I’m literally the fussiest person in the world when it comes to music taste. So much so that when asked who my favourite 5 bands are I can only ever come up with 4 (ATD-I, Mew, Minus the Bear and Sparta if you care to know) … I’ve just found a very special edition to complete the list and I really mean that… they’re my hot tip for 2008. If you’re still reading this then stop, do yourself a favour and check them out now before the magazines start telling you that they found them first… (you heard it here first!)
Rich Rowe
