On the banks of the Breede river we start of another day of music and lazing about. It is River Republic weekend and I have come to be entertained. One band heard my call, and they answered!
Forefront sweep up the crowd and delighted from beginning to end. Even better, the magic doesn’t stop as I had their album, Polaroids, waiting in my postbox back home!
You can understand my disappointment as I find a mere 5 songs waiting to be played… I have barely finished studying the quirky artwork and I was back at track 1.
Nonetheless I make my way through the fast paced collection of road trip worthy songs. Crystal clear vocals are offset with a myriad of guitar styles. Track one, “Situation” even features an unexpected hip-hop verse that is effortlessly delivered.
They stay true to the “Maskandi” style that is in abundance these days but with one exception. Every track is delivered with extraordinary speed that certainly distinguishes them from the rest of the vintage clad hipsters. It is both to their advantage and a limitation. At a live show it keeps you dancing from the get go but on an album it leans on the monotonous side. The same 1,2,1,2 beat can take it’s toll without a tequila sunrise in hand.
They recorded at Digital Forest studio who always delivers clean and crisp vocals and guitar but that is not always what you want from your drum sound. When you try and distinguish yourself from such a crowded genre you need to emphasize what might set you apart from the rest, and their drums would have been just that. Unfortunately it falls a bit flat where I would have wanted to hear some more punch.
All that aside, there is something about this band that makes me smile. They stir up memories of the good times I had next to the river or on a trip somewhere. Their anthems will forevermore draw me to their stage at any show, it’s just the album that I will take one track at a time.
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