We have almost made it to the weekend and if that doesn’t deserve a little celebration, I don’t know what does. How do you celebrate? I celebrate by checking out new music so let’s do just that and take a listen to ‘we are now|here’ from Foster Dad!
Even though “Feelings” starts off slow and calm, it doesn’t take long for this song to ramp into something quite powerful. I loved how this band plays with a sense of light and dark in this opening track. The guitars are fuzzy but the drums come through crystal clear. The vocals seem to find a balance between the two styles in all of the right ways. Although I don’t typically like to know much about the bands I’m reviewing before I review them, I know that the members of this band used to be in the hardcore scene but shifted into a different style over the years. I love how you can still hear elements of hardcore in this. They are subtle but, from some of the delivery of the vocals to some of the chord progressions, well, you can take the kid out of the hardcore scene but you can’t take that scene out of the kid.
I was instantly hooked by “Forgive Me”. The beat in this track is a bit more dancey and absolutely infectious. There’s something a little pop-punk about the beat of this track and something a bit more punk about the vocals. Although still clearly a track from Foster Dad, I love how this track is completely different from “Feeling”. This song was an instant favorite of mine because of the style and because there’s something so familiar about it without it feeling like a carbon copy of anything else.
“Rushin’ Robert” shows another side of this band that I absolutely love. A bit more in your face with a quicker tempo, the thing that stuck out to me in this track was the lyrics. Maybe it’s because I’m somewhat settling into the sound that is Foster Dad but, for some reason, I spent the entirety of this track lost in the words. “Nothing’s gonna save us/ no, nothing but us”– I mean, come on, those are the type of lyrics that easily speak to the emo in me, Beyond that, I feel like there’s a depth to the words that just can’t be put into words. Okay, maybe they can but I don’t want to give it all away!
“Letters to Lana” reminded me a lot of “Forgive Me” just due to the beat but there’s almost a 90’s alt-rock style in this track that I loved. It’s a hurried track with lots of words which makes it hard to follow but you get the overall vibe by just listening to how everything fits together. Moments of slight panic followed by quick breaks to catch your breath, the movement in this track is perfect and, although over three and a half minutes long, it felt like it was over before I knew it and “Run it By Shadow” had started playing bringing this journey to an abrupt close.
This album closes on an almost somber note. Although “Run it By Shadow” is slower than the previous songs, there’s still no denying the power behind this band, and being able to see that power showcased in a whole new way was great. Sadly, this is the last track on the album and it left me wanting to see more of this slow-moving (until everything ramped up at the very end and ended the track in a world of fury) and almost grungey side of Foster Dad but it also somehow ended this album perfectly. Even though this album was a bit all over the place stylistically, every song was distinctively that of Foster Dad and that made this album a super fun listen.
My Favorite Track(s): “Forgive Me”
For Fans Of: Uniquely Origianl Sounds; Mish-Mash of Genres; Creativity
Mosh-ability: 6 out of 10
What My Cats Thought Of It: Artie slept on the floor next to my desk; Autumn fought with birds through the front window
How Badly I Want To See This Performed Live: 7.2 out of 10
My Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10
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