Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up Til It Was Light
One of the most eagerly anticipated albums of 2008 finally gets released on 2nd June on Best Before Records. The best new band to come out of Birmingham in ages, Johnny Foreigner’s debut album, Waited Up Til It Was Light and what the trio have produced lives up to all the hype it has been receiving recently.
Having seen JoFo, as they have now become known by their fans, at this years SXSW I couldn’t wait to get the album in the cd player and I was very happy with what I heard. Kicking off with the fast paced Indie Rock Lea Room and Our Bipolar Friends sets the tone for this exciting ride of an album and they are only a teaser. Mid way through the album tracks six, 'Hennings Favourite' and track seven, 'Salt Pepper and Spindarella' are by far the stand out tracks on this highly impressive debut. Vocalist / guitarist Alexei Berrow and Bassist / back up vocalist Kelly Southern blend their vocals together so nicely on both of these. This does not mean that the screaming back up vocals of Kelly Southern are not anything other than great on the other tracks.
There are slow songs on here too, 'DJs Get Doubts' and 'Absolute Balance' breaks up all the action packed dance songs nicely and not just album fillers like so many albums these days.
For those that are old enough to remember Harvey Danger’s Flagpole Sitta will recognise the intro to "The End And Everything After" before it moves off into a completely different direction. All the other tracks slot in perfectly to the album making it an extremely wonderful 43 minutes of listening pleasure and for me, possibly the best debut album of the year.
2008 has already been a great year for the Birmingham trio and promises to get even better. With a nationwide tour currently in progress as well as several festival appearances this summer it is well worth going to check them out, especially if you liked "Now Hold On Youngster", Los Campesinos! debut album.
If I was marking this out of ten it would have got a very rare maximum score. It is very tempting to still give it a maximum thirteen out of thirteen, one for each track on the album, which includes the thirteenth track amusingly called The Hidden Song At The End Of The Record but I believe there is even better to come from Johnny Foreigner.