Hailing from North Carolina, Farewell are a Pop-Punk sextet currently making waves in their scene. Having had close to a million profile views on their MySpace page, the popularity of Farewell is clear for all to see and I feel that it is thoroughly deserved. The band first formed in 2004, releasing an EP in the form of ‘Poisoning the Lark’ in 2005 through Forsaken Recordings, and are now set to release their début album ‘Isn’t This Supposed To Be Fun!?’ on February 4th through Epitaph. Citing bands such as Green Day, Get Up Kids, and The Anniversary as influences; it seems that this is only the beginning for Farewell and they look dead set to have a huge career ahead of them.
Although their début album is as yet unreleased in the UK, the music press are already talking extremely fondly of Farewell, a band whom many believe to be the next big thing for 2008. If you’d consider yourself to be a fan of the likes of Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco et al. – there is no doubt in my mind that you’ll be in for a treat with this album from Farewell. The album grips you right from the offset with the hooky ‘Start It Up’, a track that is instantly infectious and sets the mood for the album ahead perfectly. The band are young, full of zest for life, and are clearly not short of an idea or two; factors which should allow for their fan base to blossom over the coming months.
Farewell have been touring constantly since signing to Epitaph in early 2007, something which has obviously benefited them greatly through allowing the word to spread and enabling them to grow and mature as a unit. Farewell sound like a band who have been performing together for years, a quality which belies the fact that they have only been together since 2004 and to date have only recorded and officially released one EP and one album. All thirteen of the tracks from ‘Isn’t This Supposed to be Fun!?’ are incredibly catchy and well worth your while listening to, the band will no doubt impress you greatly with each and every one of their Pop Punk packages.
Tracks such as ‘Hey Heather’, ‘First One On The Blog’, and ‘Stay Pretty’ stand out massively so when listening to this release. There is such an addictive quality about the music of Farewell that stopping listening to them once you have started becomes an exceptionally difficult activity. Once they have drawn you in with their incredible sound, there is no turning back and you are compelled to listen to the album from start to finish. This can be a little difficult if you don’t really have a spare forty minutes, however I never have any regrets when finished listening to this magical music. In fact, most times when I come to the end of the album I go straight back and listen to it all over again.
‘Stay Pretty’ is a track that stands out to me as a result of its magnificent use of synthesisers in the sound. The opening utilises the synthesiser supremely and has me gripped every time. The track is impeccably well crafted and every element of the sound here fits together fantastically. The vocals are spot on, the guitars never fail to impress, and the underlying synthesiser sound always goes down a treat. The vocals of Farewell are consistently excellent throughout this release and never do they become tiresome. With each listen the vocals seem to sound better every time, the harmonies always sounding sensational and the instrumental element of the music never sounding short of scintillating.
Farewell are an all in all excellent band, one who never fail to impress and always provide great entertainment and aural satisfaction. Whilst I am sure that the band have a better album in them yet, ‘Isn’t This Supposed to be Fun!?’ is not at all a bad starting point and is definitely one of the best début albums that I have heard in a long time. It is not often that bands can provide such creativity and catchiness in a first release, however Farewell have done so magnificently and recorded an album which I feel should be listened to by all. The music of Farewell is just so upbeat and captures your attention entirely, not letting you go until the music has come to a final close.
Although this album is yet to be released in the UK, you can listen to the album for free by simply going to http://www.last.fm/music/Farewell/Isn’t This Supposed to be Fun? and streaming the tracks from here. I would strongly suggest you do so, who knows; you may even find your new favourite band. Farewell are an excellent young Pop Punk band, and if they continue to churn out music such as is displayed on this release then they will no doubt go far in this industry. In recent years many bands of this sort have made a name for themselves who have been nowhere near as good as Farewell, so it is only right then that this band make it massive.
Label: Epitaph
Release Date: 4th February 2008
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
