Foreign Born – Person to Person CD Review
“Hi, we’re Foreign Born and we’re from California,” lead singer Matt Popieluch yells to the crowd gathered at Toronto’s world famous Horseshoe Tavern – which is both the band’s introduction to Toronto this night and to this reviewer completely.
I’m there early – The Veils are headlining – and you never know what, or who, you might see. This is the kind of place and the kind of night one can make potentially-amazing musical discoveries and, what makes it especially intriguing is the chance to see them live before I even review this album. Most of my music is charted out in reverse.
To clarify Popieluch’s proclamation, the group is technically from California even though Matt himself spent his formative years with his banker father in Hong Kong. It’s not hard to see the international influence in the music.
Foreign Born reminds me of a lot of bands. They’re a mix of Afripop – at times (Early Warnings) you’d think you’re listening to Vampire Weekend – and they have rhythms and vocalizing (Vacationing People) that reminds me of another recent discovery, Harlem Shakes, although the latter are a little more dance-oriented (I also prefer them).
Word has it that Foreign Born is still very much a work in progress (Popieluch apparently still needs to block out chunks of time off from his LA-based groundskeeping job to allow for the continent-wise touring). Knowing that you can’t help but (a) wonder at how little money the band actually makes and (b) cheer for Matt and the band to get over that damn annoying financial hump almost all of us are stuck behind.
As for the album Person to Person itself, it’s good, as in six out of ten good. One of the vibes I got from their live performance was their energy and their music collective mentality. They felt and sounded and looked like a band as opposed to a band backing a phenomenal lead (The Veils are more like that). That appeal comes across on the album.
Foreign Born makes great use of percussion. Seems anything that can be hit and banged during a song (cowbells, cans, who knows) is hit and banged. Most of the music – Winter Games for example – has addictive bouncy rhythms that aren’t dance but rather communal jams, as if we’re all invited to join in, and anytime a band can elicit that kind of response from a listener, you know you’re well on the right track.
Foreign Born – That Old Sun
Foreign Born – Winter Games
Foreign Born – Vacationing People
Tags: album, Foreign Born, Harlem Shakes, The Veils, Vampire Weekend
