THE FORECAST - 'Everybody Left' review

THE FORECAST - 'Everybody Left' review

So yeah, here's a belated review of THE FORECAST's excellent final album, 'Everybody Left'; hideously under-rated.

"For me, THE FORECAST were / are a terribly under-rated band. Me and my brother first discovered them when we saw the video to 'These Lights' on MTV2 (back when they played the odd decent tune) and we were blown away by the three part vocal harmonies and the belting female vocals in the chorus and ending, and even though what they've written over the years has been big, catchy, and emotional, it's easy to see why they never quite reached the heights that other bands on Victory might have done; they've never followed trends, changed their sound to fit a scene, or really played anything outrageous. However, what they did do is write truly incredible emo / rock mixed with a very Western / saloon vibe, and some face meltingly huge choruses sung by Shannon Burns, probably one of my favourite female singers, and one hell of a bad-ass bassist. They've been described as something like the perfect soundtrack to whiskey-filled nights, and as well as being perfect road trip / driving music, it definitely has that nostalgic, late-night / early hours, talking around the fire / in the bar feel to it that few bands manage to create.

So as far as this goes compared to previous works, despite having fewer huge, belted choruses, this is probably the poppiest, and most consistently catchy set of songs they've done, and also probably the most energetic album of what I imagine would be great tunes to see live. The Western acoustic vibe still runs through it, with tunes like 'Take Me Down' sounding as though THE EAGLES decided to gain a female vocalist and emo-rock things up a bit, and there are some of their best choruses and sing-a-longs in 'Like a Habit', 'Figure It Out', and 'Way We Were'. The two and three part vocal harmonies are as strong as ever throughout, as is the instrumentation, from catchy time changes in the drum work to the country-ish guitar melodies and chord progressions. Fans of THE FORECAST will also love hearing lyrical nods to a lot of older songs, from the line 'you're the one back to your roots, and I'm the dust that lies in you' in 'Sing it Out', to the mentions of many previous song titles like 'Fade In. Fade Out', 'Whiskey's Dead You're Next', and 'You're My Needle' in the closer 'Last Stand', which is a really beautiful and nostalgic link that, if this is to be their final release, is a perfect encore from a band that stuck to their roots, gave us some incredible genuine tunes, and will go down to those that were lucky enough to discover them as one of the most under-rated bands of our time."

xox