Cold Fronts - Forever Whatever (2015)

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Cold Fronts - Forever Whatever (2015)

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A quaking bass-line and a wall of guitar melody open “Buschleague”, the first track off Cold Fronts first LP, Forever Whatever. The track that follows is brash, colorful rock n’ roll at its finest. Full of hooks and punching power-chord rhythms, the sound Cold Fronts displays here is not quite pop-punk, not quite power-pop, but keeps two of the key ingredients of those genres: energy and melody. “Buschleague” is full of contradicting ideas, with lines like “I want it all/ No, I don’t want anything” and “I feel young/ I feel older again”, but the confidence displayed by Cold Fronts and songwriter Craig Almquist is anything but unsure. “Buschleague” is a wallop of a single, but the rest of the album veers between that track’s enthusiasm and some half-hearted approximation.

Almquist’s enthusiasm, shown both in his frenetic leads and vocals, rips right out of the speakers all throughout Forever Whatever. It is his energy that keeps much of the album afloat, and makes almost every song sound like a candidate for a lead single. The vibe feels a lot like Free Energy’s debut album, but without being so indebted to classic rock. Instead, Cold Fronts update garage influences, adding pure bubblegum where there was once grime. Tracks like “Radio” and “Hit Me” are ready to be played poolside, but others flounder. “Permanent Record” has a churning hook that nags at the ear by the track’s end, and “Primetime” is much too inconsequential to have warranted a spot here. Like some other great pop acts, Cold Fronts could have used some editing.

Cold Fronts made it big in one of the most romantic ways thinkable. Playing on the street outside SXBW, the head of Sire Records, Seymour Stein, heard Almquist and Co. playing, and decided to sign them. It’s easy to see the appeal for the label that housed the Replacements and the Ramones. These tracks are all well-crafted pop songs—unfortunately, they tend to melt into one another. You may find yourself with a hook stuck in your head, but unsure of which song it’s from. A lot of the choruses here could be easily interchangeable, and even some of the riffs are carbon copies of one another. Cold Fronts have the songwriting down, on their next outing, they should focus on cultivating their own unique voice.

~ earbuddy.net