Sometimes in life, you’re forced to tip your hat out of astonishment and respect at something you were convinced was dead as it walks by. It doesn’t look or smell dead from where you are. It appears fine and in good health and even politely waves back with a smile in passing, but still catches you off guard. The new album by Nashville-based super pop-rock group fORMER, titled The Kids Deserve Cable, can have that power over a person if they’ve fallen out of hearing the brand of cookie-cutter pop that was huge a decade ago on television and is apparently still kicking.
Led by Denny Smith on vocals and guitar, fORMER’s The Kids Deserve Cable is reminiscent of The Get Up Kids or Coheed and Cambria with a hint of The Weakerthans in the guitar arrangements on this 10-track album. Accompanied by Henry Go on bass, Billy Baker on drums, and Patrick Miller dueling Smith with another electric, fORMER creates a slightly overproduced sound big enough to fill a stadium as guitarists Smith and Miller use fORMER’s poppy rhythmic base as an outlet for some pretty focused guitar chops, which comprise a large majority of the album’s accents outside of a piano or maraca cameo in one of the latter half. That focus is almost irresponsible, but relentless and respectable.
Starting out determined to get some attention, the leading track, “Head Light,” is crafted into the two verses with the chorus in between, followed by the refrain and solo, finishing with a fading chorus type-method, as are the following nine songs. Lyrically, though, “Head Light,” chants about the life of a traveling rock star, which might create a hole in the wall if the audience is not careful hyping up. Outside of that, Smith and co-authors touch on posthumous fame in the maraca-laced “Born a Ghost,” washed-up boozers in the bass-powered, “Drown,” and the subject of dying love in four or five of the other tracks until the album ends bright with fORMER’s only love song, “Come On,” which sounds like it may be addressing one of the inspirations for “Head Light.”
If you have a chance, head out and support fORMER’s new work; show details, as well as a copy of The Kids Deserve Cable, can be downloaded from dennysmithmusic.com, or facebook.com/Formernashville, which is updated regularly.
