Album Review: Man Without Country - Foe

Man Without Country
Foe
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Welsh duo Man Without Country (with a third man for live performances) are in a community of synth-pop/shoegaze acts that focus less on synth hooks and more on a broad cinematic sweep of lush synth washes. Bands like M83, Hooray For Earth, Bear In Heaven, and Delphic come to mind. In interviews the band describe their band name as referring to a feeling of not being connected. In keeping with this description, Man Without Country's debut album Foe is a hunting and gloomy batch of tracks that hold a fairly despairing view of humanity, relationships, and life in modern times. Although a reading of the lyric sheet can get a little depressing, thankfully the music is for the most part lush, with pulsating dance beats meant to bring you on the dance floor and not isolated in a headphones cocoon.

Foe starts out with the M83-esque title track, built on a bed of cascading keyboards and airy drum machines. The song, a bleak depiction of a Sisyphean life in the suburbs, features a bland, monotonous computer generated voice intoning bleak statements like "For every bomb that you defuse I will plant another," surrounding the track with an air of menace. The band uses this voice throughout the record as a touchstone for their themes of soulless despair.



Which leads into the rushing synths and beats of single "Puppets," whose driving force belies the lyrics of the track, singing about "The inability to think for yourself is all you've ever known" and that we are only a "prisoner in this place that you call home."



Elsewhere, Man Without Country pick up the beats again on "Closet Addicts Anonymous," a despairing view of a man's antagonistic relationship with his father; realizing that he will never get his father's love: "Before me you'll grow old/"I'll still be your scapegoat."



"Clipped Wings" is another gorgeously lush track swimming in a sea of sparkling synths, which again deflect that the song details a man haunted by a failed relationship. The chorus is stunningly moving. While the music of "Migrating Clay Pigeons" mirrors the narrator's descent into almost madness at the thought of being "Freed like a discarded fish/Unprofitable, too old to learn new tricks." The clamoring drums and sweeping synths battle against one another.



Before the beats and keyboard layering seem to get too much, Man Without Country know when to take things down a notch, providing a respite from the sonic fury. "Parity" is a simply beautiful track built on soft beds of synthesizers and piano, although once again the lyrics are quite sad, detailing a meaningless suburban existence: "The walls you decorate/Surround you everyday /The waste that you inhale/Dictates this empty space." And "Ebb & Flow" is a stunning mid-tempo track focusing on the artist's dilemma of whether to stay true to one's instincts or to sell-out. The narrator resigned, singing "I'm pale as a ghost/And its why I'm uninspired."



Foe is a solid release that only falters when the gloom gets a little too oppressive, or where the band attempts to focus on broader, less interesting themes, like the diatribe against a cheating lover, coming up with the almost ludicrous lyric "How can I send you shivers when you don't have a spine?" Or the attempt at Pet Shop Boys' style archness on the gossip rag bemoaning "King Complex," but with none of their trademarked wit. Overall though, I find myself consistently coming back to Foe, and enjoying it more and more. A little less gloom and some more polished lyrics should vault Man Without Country into higher reaches next time.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.