Foreign Born

Person To Person (Secretly Canadian)

By Chris R. Morgan
Published: July 13th, 2009 | 12:07am

Though few people will be bating their breath over what, exactly, is to be expected of Foreign Born as the band digs deeper into its career with a second album, there will be a small sector of inquisitive types who would like to see what it is the group intends to do with its blend of sweet folk and epic pop. Clearly nothing that busts through the steel walls of culture, making the group known to all, but something polished, powerful, and swelling with melody.

As in On the Wing Now (Dim Mak, 2007), Person To Person displays the band's tendency to craft songs from the twee sensibilities of old — innocence, whimpers, and a tendency to be overwhelmed by beauty — and gives them a commanding presence with voluminous sound and production that translates well into open spaces. This is perhaps the least brash road music to have been created, and the fact that such an album has been released in the summer is hardly an accident; the songs are lush, sprawling, and airy.

What separates this album from the last, however, is the more intricate approach to percussion. On the Wing Now seemed more centered around ghostly vocals, crystalline guitars, and wall-like synth melodies, but the drums were simple, competent. In the case of Person To Person, Foreign Born has taken considerable pains to add alongside the drums items like bongos and various clink-and-clank instruments. Many take for granted the richness of percussion; in this case, it is a great asset to the record, making itself as much a part of the central melody as it is the rhythm.

Most of the songs on Person To Person have a rather uniform appeal, but "Blood Oranges" is a particularly engaging opener, with its chiming guitars and vocals that are at once low-key and soaring. "Winter Games" shows the band in a more festive than ethereal light with jagged moving guitars and, again, layered percussion. Yet, there is a good helping of tracks that retain a pristine, reflective mood — such as "It Grew On You," with its more repetitive structure and wistful vocals, and follower, "See Us Home," made lush by a string arrangement.

All in one helping, the album is an experience that brings together aimless ramblers, classic romantics, and engineering whores. Harmony is foreseeable in harmony, oddly enough.

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