Album Review – The Front Bottoms – Self titled debut out now – Banquet Records

Review by Steve Boniface

New Jersey band The Front Bottoms recently completed a UK tour to support the release of this eponymous debut, and if there’s any justice it will have successfully won over a host of new British fans for the pair. Their intriguing mix of commercial punk-rock sounds with acoustic guitar stylings could draw comparisons with anyone from light Greenday to heavy Snow Patrol, and it’s a mix that needs to be heard to be appreciated.

The songwriting here is based around acoustic guitar, drums and vocals, the work of Brian Sella & Mathew Uychich, a duo who have been playing together since their pre-puberty days. These years together come across well in the well-constructed songs on offer, tunes that keep you guessing and sound fresh out of the box with their changing tempos and dynamics. Track 4, ‘Mountain’, is a prime example, segueing from a shuffled opening into a straight groove after a long, stylish intro.

Another highlight, ‘Swimming Pool’, pares the sound back to basics to start wioth – an acoustic guitar line, a sparse vocal, the sudden introduction of pounding drums, a slight hiss on the production to give the impression of a DIY garageband.  All this then suddenly gives way to a built up, sweeping middle section that comes from nowhere yet fits perfectly.

Lyrically, the album is full of obtuse references to presumably autobiographical experiences, and listeners’ opinions on this will depend on their ability to suspend any need for literal interpretation. There’s very little here that’s straightforward in terms of what The Front Bottoms are trying to say.
Each song here is all its own, each one offering something new while definitely sharing the signature sound of a band who know what they’re doing. One slight grate is the vocal which, while fine melodically, is arguably too reminiscent of Counting Crows in its slow, lilting accent. But this is a minor gripe in what is an excellent album, and only mentioned here for lack of other issues.

From start to end, this is as strong a debut as you could hope for from a band who’ve honed their very own sound right out of the gate. It will be interesting to see what happens with a second album, but for now, there’s enough here to keep your ears engaged many times over.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/thefrontbottoms

Review by Steve Boniface

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