The Forecast "Late Night Conversations" CD
[Victory]
This is another solid emo/indie rock outing from the Victory camp, this time building off of a pretty traditional foundation that has a lot in common with varying influences from the 90's era of the genre.  There's a good balance between clean and distorted guitars (with some acoustics in place as well), rocked out chord progressions and more somber affairs, melodic lead lines and jangly textures, etc.  Three of the members handle the vocal duties, with male/female interaction adding some character to the tracks.  The female vocals take the lead on occasion, but despite there being plenty of tradeoffs and harmonies the male vocals are in control most of the time.  I actually think that's a good decision too, because even though I'm generally a fan of female vocals and I think this girl's a really nice singer, her voice is a little high-pitched for the feel of this music, so sometimes it overpowers the male vocals.  And honestly, the one guy that does the bulk of the vocal work has a great sounding style.  It's just dry and natural and fits the tone of the songwriting fucking perfectly, so I think some of that character gets lost when the more upbeat female singing comes into play.  For the most part the songs are pretty energetic and memorable, but not to the point where they sound forced or stripped down, you know?  It's nothing complex or anything at all, but the atmosphere here is more genuine than much of what's known as "emo" these days.  It's not poppy sounding material that's totally geared towards the radio or anything, it just somehow comes across as more honest and sincere in terms of musical value.  There are definitely catchy moments to songs like "Fade in Fade Out" and Late Night Conversations", but it's actually some of the longer and darker tracks where the band truly shines.  "Exorcise Demons" tops six minutes and is a little more dynamic in its use of layered clean passages and subtly flashy drumming, also making more prominent and effective use of vocal tradeoffs.  "Sleep Tight Tonight" is similarly unique in its use of palm-muted riffing and surging rhythms that provide a solid backbone for one of the more driving tracks.  Neither of these songs really need to hit six minutes considering there are some lengthy instrumental breaks, but they do pull it off.  The recording is very nice.  The rhythm section sounds natural and has a good punch, the guitars are clear and have a strong sense of dense "heaviness" (but not in a metallic manner at all), and the vocals are very well blended in against the music.  The bass tone might be a little too crisp, but it's not mixed loud enough to where that matters, and even though some of the female singing tends to pop out above everything else, it's not a significant issue.  There's minor, minor room for improvement, but they're on the right track and the end result here sounds damn good to these ears.  I really like the layout and its use of clean text over colorful country landscapes, but the lyrics, even though they also seem sincere, just don't do much for me.  I can't quite place what it is that rubs me the wrong way, maybe it's all of the romanticized references to drinking or something (from both positive and negative viewpoints), I don't know.  I don't feel like the heart of the message is sappy, but some of the delivery definitely is, notably in lines like, "Have you ever seen stars like these with a night like this wishing it could last forever and I'm convinced that soon you'll see these summer leaves turn to a winter breeze I will show you the country and all its secrets..."  This is definitely a band to watch, though.  There are some lulls that lose a little impact, but songs like "Helping Hands" are very well written and point to a lot of talent yet to be fully explored by the group.  Good work. (7/10)
Running time - 38:16, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Helping Hands, Fade in Fade Out, Exorcise Demons]
Victory Records - http://www.victoryrecords.com

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