Album Review: Born Radical – Friendly Foes

Friendly Foes are the new project from Thunderbirds Are Now! frontman Ryan Allen, and with his new band Allen has the task of rebuilding the underground acclaim he garnered with Thunderbirds from the ground up. From the sound of the Foes’ debut album Born Radical, Allen couldn’t seem more pleased with this situation. On triumphant first track “Full Moon Morning”– one of several songs on Born Radical about being in a band– Allen sings, “Get in the van, unload the gear/ we’re a band, let’s get outta here!”

Bassist Liz Wittman and drummer Brad Elliot round out the power trio, and propel the Foes’ sound somewhere in the space between the boy/girl power pop of The New Pornographers and the pop punk of New Found Glory. Wittman’s vocal contributions are sugar-sweet, ranging from backing ooh’s and aah’s to her nasal lead on “Get Ripped”. Blanche’s Dave Feeny helms the production and guests on the album as well, injecting the instrumentation with flourishes that veer from traditional r n’ r. On multi-structured “Epic Jamb” for instance, feline “aah-aah’s”, horns, maracas, and what sounds like a very Feeny pedal steel mesh perfectly together for a four-minute slice of pop punk.

Not that the Foes need to rely on studio gimmicks. At the core of Born Radical they deliver straightforward power pop, and they do it with enough infectious enthusiasm to keep their take fresh.

Featured Track: 
“Couch Surfing”

Born Radical can be purchased from Gangplank Records or on Amazon