It was always going to be hard for Johnny Foreigner to surpass their astonishing debut EP, Arcs Across the City and while their full-length début doesn’t quite reach the same heights there is still a lot to be excited about.
The frenetic energy is still here, although in the re-recorded tracks taken from the E.P. the sense of immediacy seems to have waned slightly. Lead single ‘Eyes Wide Terrified’ is a stand out, with one of those huge choruses that XFM laps up, not a bad thing as long as the tune is good enough to back it up and it certainly is here.
The boy-girl vocals still remain in force and here lies one of my only quibbles.

The male lead’s voice is far stronger than the female; his solo vocal outings far outshine anything that she can manage, which is a shame because her voice really isn’t that bad. The Idlewild for a new generation; let’s just hope they can put out more than one good record.

Richard Swales