JOHNNY FOREIGNER: 'Johnny Foreigner vs Everything.'

 At two separate points during ‘Johnny Foreigner vs Everything,’ the music is interrupted by vocal interludes where a number of interview subjects discuss their love of certain songs. It is this same love of individual songs which characterises this album as a whole.

 This record contains 15 individual songs and there is not a weak one amongst them. You can tell that each and every track has been lovingly crafted, with a great amount of time spent tweaking and kneading at them in order to get them as close to perfect as possible – not only individually, but so that they fit the entire context of the album as a whole. 

The real problem comes with picking a stand-out from the collection. The brilliantly titled  ’if I’m the most famous boy you’ve fucked then honey yr in trouble’  launches the album with a phenomenal burst of pace and irreverence; ‘johnny foreigner vs you’ is as perfect a piano-led ballad as you are likely to hear this year; lead single ‘(don’t) show us your fangs’ probably has a catchier beat than most of the dance hits of the last 12 months; and towards the end of the album ‘doesn’t believe in angels’ is a beautifully poignant, and well constructed song which makes great use of it’s odd instrumentation to find a real bitter-sweet tone. 

The sheer craft of this album makes it one of those that has you desperately raiding the band’s back catalogue to catch-up on everything you have been missing. 

This is extremely fine pop music – an album you just want to live in for a while. 

(Released through Alcopop and Out Now.)

 (9/10) 

Kenneth John Porteous