Musical Mathematics

Album Review//Johnny Foreigner – ‘Johnny Foreigner Vs Everything’

Brummie noisemakers Johnny Foreigner’s Johnny Foreigner vs Everything seem to have purposefully named their album as a confrontation, and given frontman Alexis Berrow’s infamously outspoken blog that has been known to irritate the likes of Rick Martin of NME, it’s not a surprising choice. But what at first glance may seem to be merely the intentionally confrontational Youtube rants of a naïve, teenage, and self-described rebel, the band never does veer off into that abyss of cynical immaturity.

In fact, vs Everything is a record by a band that’s had their share of fun with the music industry while at the same time have also experience firsthand its failings. Nostalgia is hidden not so subtly in the noise, and the noise is, for the most part, an absolute joy to listen to. One of Johnny Foreigner’s main strengths has always been their ability to alternate between soft, tingly pop rock and beefy, guitar-laden indie pop with their signature shouty vocals, and they have not abandoned that dichotomy here.

Think relentless drumming, rapid riff exchanges and duets that sometimes sound like a yelling match, that is Johnny Foreigner at their fiercest. Then there are the beautifully done, quieter moments, which begs the question, which is their best side? In response we at Musical Math might ask, does it matter? They’re as great full of noise they are when mellow. Fans of Waited Up Til It Was Light and the shamefully underrated Grace And The Bigger Picture will feel right at home with this record.

Yet there is a clear sense of an evolved three-piece here. Seventeen (!) songs will vouch for that. The listener still gets a sense that the songs are somehow different parts of different ideas jumbled up together and arranged into different songs, and while that may sound like a criticism, it’s not. For it seems that is the effect Johnny Foreigner intended to create, and the songs that result from that are absolutely exceptional.

Vs Everything seems more well-thought-out than the earlier LPs and EPs, but at the same time it fully embraces their chaotic signature sound that hooked many listeners in the first place. It is a great return for the Brummies and a great coup for their new record label, Alcopop Records. 

Purchase links: http://alcopop.wordpress.com/shop/ 

Check out Johnny Foreigner @ www.johnnyforeignertheband.com

Words by Jay Johar