Birmingham band Johnny Foreigner have, apart from a short hiatus, been releasing high-energy rock with a punk edge since 2005. The members – guitarist/vocalist Alexei Berrow, bassist/vocalist Kelly Parker, drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, and guitarist Lewes Herriot certainly haven’t lost their bite since Mono No Aware in 2016…indeed, this latest release, How To Be Hopeful sounds like a natural progression and the long wait is worth it.
Take the carefully constructed discordant opening on lead-off track, ‘Roisin Does Advice Now.’ It manages to be Pulpy pop, heavy metal, punk and classic rock without upsetting any genre champions…I shouldn’t like it but I can’t help loving it! ‘The Blazing World’ manages the same with some proggy touches hidden deep. ‘Museum of Useless Things’ is a much more gentle song that brings late 60s psyche into the already heady mix. Then there’s the two-and-a-half minutes wig-out of ‘This Is A Joke’ which has Mael touches. ‘A Sea to Scream At’ plays brilliantly with tempo and harmony. ‘Emily and Alex’ is a sort of ballad with more psyche and a closing track, ‘We Build This City’ builds slowly via a complex rhythm and then bursts back into the punk, rock etc hybrid that shouldn’t work but does…and does so brilliantly.
On first listen, it would be easy to dismiss or pigeonhole (wrongly) this album – give it a few run-throughs and I guarantee it will grow and soon become essential listening.
How To Be Hopeful is out now
