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
