Their first album was one of those rare albums that has been embraced by me, my wife, and daughter. It has great hooks and energy and so we gravitate to it for most any occasion. Though it was not my album of the year it has been the album from 2011 that I most listen to.I was very excited then to see they had a new album and was even more happy to find it didn't disappoint.
This album feels like it was constructed as an album from start to finish, where their first album felt more like a collection of individual songs. We also find them becoming a bit more experimental with their sound.
I have talked a lot on this blog of the influences of the post punk movement on much of the music today. One thing that is easy to forget about that movement in the 80s is that it lead to songs like "In Between Days" by The Cure. Foster the People have found that music and brought it up to date and created an album that feels youthful, energetic, and still edgy.
Of course experimenting with new sounds also means you get at least one bad song here or there and they have one of these on here called "Goats in Trees". It doesn't really work and takes the air out of the end of the album. It just goes to show how tough it is to make a full album from start to finish.
Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 3 out of 5 stars for Pretty Good.
Do any of the songs on this album also happen to be on the Frozen soundtrack? Because, if not, it's still not going to be embraced by my daughter.
ReplyDeleteBut it was good to see an album get as many as three stars.
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