The Foghorns
A Diamond As Big As The Motel 6
Beefy Beef Records
Released: 2009
There are albums you just can't dislike and this is one of them. The Foghorns hail from Seattle (via Iceland apparently) and they do the alt-folk thing in a very convincing manner. The sound quality is not great, the production is a concept rather than a reality but this album works nonetheless.
It works because it is an honest album. The songs are straightforward without musical twists or turns. Come to think of it, they are disarmingly simple. Take "Brooklyn Bridge" as an example. It's a playful drinking song on the surface but it masks its true nature through humour. Life's trivialities polished up and delivered to us like a takeaway pizza, so to speak. The fragile harmonies - from Brad and Katie methinks - on "Old Bachelors in Cleveland" show the tasteful understatement that I speak of. If you need a comparison then The Foghorns ar a bit like Jonathan Richman really - straightforward and quirky all at the same time.
I loved this album almost as much as I love Liz Fuller's bosoms launching themselves at the camera on Quiz Call. False eyelashes are so the way to go. Did that make sense? Probably not.
Just get this album. It's about 45 degrees away from the mainstream but there is so much pleasure to be taken in its simple charms.
Bluesbunny
Rating
The Foghorns
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