Rarely on a rock record has the adage "write what you know" been put to such good use as it has on the debut by Friendly Foes, the newest project of Ryan Allen of Thunderbirds Are Now!. Despite some notable exceptions (Art Brut's "Formed a Band", Pavement's "Range Life", Jackson Browne's "The Load-Out" among them), the ratio of great bands to great songs about being in a band is still remarkably small. But astonishingly, this Detroit-area trio has created not just one catchy track about the journeyman's life, but a song cycle of sorts of vigorous, stupidly sloppy power-pop that deals explicitly with the details of life in a rock band. Perhaps this is because, between its three members, Friendly Foes have quite a bit of experience in that area. (Aside from Allen's aforementioned affiliation, bassist/vocalist Liz Wittman is one half of Kiddo and drummer Brad Elliot played with Satin Peaches.)
Listeners are warned from the onset, with opening track, "Full Moon Morning", that Born Radical is going to be an overtly "meta" experience. Encapsulating everything from the excitement of first playing together ("Picked a name, picked a sound/ Played some shows, the kids came out/ But remained underground when they couldn't figure us out") to the less savory details of road life ("Our clothes smell like piss/ We're running out of strings/ Do you think we'll live like this through the winter and the spring?"), the track manages to cram a warts-and-all look at life as a struggling musician into barely two minutes of sugar rush harmonies, crashing cymbals, and insistently downstroked, fuzzed-out guitars. A few songs later, on "Couch Surfing", the three-piece try to prove that not all slackers are unmotivated, as Allen sings about the chasm between his ambitions and his circumstances. And while he yelps about his dream of his band getting good reviews and not having a permanent place to sleep, he's backed by Wittman's girly "ba ba bas" and some cutesy woodblock percussion, making Friendly Foes sound like the New Pornographers on particularly strong amphetamines. "Wild (Once in a While)", the final track in the triumvirate of songs that overtly addresses band life, has a comparably spare opening-- though it later blooms into a bouquet of "ooh la la"s, bright, driving keyboards, and crashing cymbals-- that reminds listeners that at the bottom of this saturated sound lurks Elvis Costello's melodic economy.
Musically, Friendly Foes sit on a precarious highwire, balancing between cheery 1970s power pop and the gloriously lo-fi "college" rock of the early 90s. Despite the similarities to a jittery Carl Newman and his crew, Allen's infectious, chugging guitar riffs and nasal, androgynous delivery make it hard not to hear Superchunk pretty explicitly as an influence throughout the album, though Mac McCaughan's group never sounded this rich or sunny. Adding to the 90s nostalgia is Wittman's babydoll voice, which recalls Juliana Hatfield and the slew of other Sassy female frontwomen of her era. "Get Ripped", the only track of the collection to feature her lead vocals, feels like a sped up version of "My Sister" (or better yet, something off Belly's 1993 debut). Wrapped in purposely rough production that makes it seem like the distorted guitars and muddy, trebly vocals were literally recorded in a garage, Friendly Foes seem punk, even though, at their heart, their nerdy, hyperactive anthems are no more punk than songs by the similarly named slick English dance poppers with whom they are often confused (that would be Friendly Fires).
Admittedly, as Born Radical wears on, its helium-injected vocals become tiring to the ear. Ditto the record's full-throttle velocity, though there is something to be said for the enthusiasm of a group that can't help but play at maximum speed at all times. But luckily this 13-song collection only lasts 34 minutes, so listeners will barely have time to register such fatigue before the album is over and they're craving its hooky blasts of harmony all over again. After all, you'd be hard pressed to find another album this year that will give you such an accurate feeling of what's it's like to be a band (and no, being an expert at "Guitar Hero" doesn't count).
