(Secretly Canadian/Think)

Pouting West Coast folk rockers deliver gently anthemic album

On album number two Person To Person, Foreign Born present a subtly diverse collection of epic folk rock songs, with a healthy dose of LA angst. Detractors would call them an emo Wilco, but for me Foreign Born manage to get the balance of furrowed brows and pop hooks about right. They are at their most sweepingly melodic in the superb Vacationing People, while the cow-bell rocker Winter Games shows a more ragged rock and roll quality to their sound. Early Warnings is next, sounding like the troubled cousin of Vampire Weekend’s Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. Person To Person has 10 songs in a neat 39 minutes, 30 seconds, with every track around the classic pop three-to-four minute time frame. The impressive element of Foreign Born’s craft is how they manage to cram so many elements into these radio-friendly formats, without the songs sounding overloaded or gratuitous. Hence, opening track Blood Oranges barrels along in a jalopy of cluttered percussion and minimalist, chiming guitar lines, but it’s the soaring, soulful pop melody that makes the lasting impression. The same goes for the slightly Eastern-tinged That Old Sun. The very name Foreign Born suggests a band of outsiders, strangers in their own city even, but this collection of moody sun-kissed pop/rock is far from alienating.

***½

MATT THROWER

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