Album Review: The Forecast- Everybody Left

(click here to purchase this album)

It’s not often that the lead single of an album just makes me drop my jaw in awe. The last album to do this was Transit’s Listen & Forgive with “Long Lost Friends”.  However, the first time I heard The Forecast’s “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts” I sat in silence for 2 minutes taking in the previous 2 minutes and 45 seconds of music. The only word to describe it was perfect; every detail, from the Friday Night Lights reference in the title, to the call and response vocalist Dustin Addis and Shannon Burns, to the massive roll from Rhys Miller that ends the song, is musical perfection. The ultimate question was:  Could the Peoria, Illinois indie rock band live up to the greatness of the lead single with the rest of their fourth full-length album, Everybody Left? And the simple answer is…well, sort of.

In order to understand what makes this Forecast album so special, one must first understand why this album almost didn’t even happen. The Forecast, signed originally by Victory Records, fell into the long list of bands to have issues with the label, leaving after their second full length-album In the Shadow of Two Gunmen. Their third album, a self-titled, was released through Eyeball Records in 2010. But the band ran into financial problems after the release, and opened up a Kickstarter project to fund the album without label backing. The result was this album, funded by the fans.

With that said, the fans effort to make the record happen was completely worth it. The Forecast provide 10 more tracks of everything they do so well. Two and three part harmonies, call and response vocals, upbeat indie rock with a twinge of countryish sounding elements, and great songwriting. It should be noted that these songs sound about as perfect as summer anthems come. “Like A Habit” has the gang vocals and handclaps that were just made for a campfire singalong.

It’s a wonder that The Forecast aren’t bigger than they are, judging by their pop hooks and massive choruses on par or better than anything on the radio right now. The lyrics are so well written that you sometimes feel as if Addis and Burns are relating your own thoughts back to you. The guitar work is infused with so many different elements, from the Americana feel on “Skipping Stone” to the all-out rock and roll assault of “Skyline.”

This is yet another album that has the theme of looking back at the past with a nostalgic lens (seems to be a recurring theme in the albums I choose to review- see The Menzingers and Listen & Forgive), however Everybody Left approaches this theme in a refreshing way. One of the ways they go about doing this is by referencing their appropriately titled song “And We All Return to Our Roots,” from their second album, In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, twice on the album. The first time comes in “Sing It Loud” with the line "You're the one back to your roots, and I'm the dust that lies in you," and the second reference comes in the album’s closer “Last Stand.”

“Last Stand” references several older Forecast songs in the bridge’s lyrics: “It’s in the lights that you will find time seems to always pass us by, and when you’re back to roots you’ll find the emptiness in you. And if the long drives keep you sane, you’re my needle, I’m the same.” Hardcore Forecast fans will find at least a half a dozen songs referenced in the bridge of that song alone (by my count, at least 7: "Fade In, Fade Out", "Whiskey's Dead You're Next", “These Lights”, “It’s A Long Drive” “And We All Return to Our Roots”, "Exorcise Demons",  “You’re My Needle;” and that’s just the first 2 albums). The song almost feels like The Forecast’s last stand, making the song appropriately titled, as if the band was saying “If this Kickstarter thing doesn’t work out, at least we were blessed to make albums we are completely proud of for the last 7 years.”  And they should be proud of Everybody Left, as the band remains consistent and adds yet another instant classic to their expanding discography.

Bottom Line: “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts” ends up being the best track by a wide margin; but just like the Dillon Panthers are more than just Smash Williams, Everybody Left is more than just the lead single. A superbly written pop-rock album, Everybody Left is sure to remain in heavy rotation throughout the summer months and may even stick around until Album of the Year selection time. If you haven’t listened to The Forecast yet, take notice and catch up, because this band is something special. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.

Recommended if you rock: Criminally underrated bands, three part harmonies, “Texas Forever”, America