Album Review: Froth – ‘Outside (briefly)’


Los Angeles’ Froth, JooJoo Ashworth (guitar/vocals), Cameron Allen (drums), Jeremy Katz (bass), and Nick Ventura (guitar) have signed to Wichita Recordings. They release their third album, the Thomas Dolas produced, ‘Outside (briefly)’ on February 24th. Across the ten songs, the band dial back the noise and psych-pop found on their previous LPs to reveal delicately beautiful melodies, intricately arranged instrumentals, and some of their most experimental song writing to date.

Formed in Los Angeles in 2013, Froth first garnered attention with their debut LP, Patterns. Originally intended as a small-run cassette release, the album quickly became an underground sensation in the Southern California music scene, catapulting the band to local fame and prompting a vinyl re-release in 2014. The following year saw the arrival of Bleak, a more dynamic, adventurous effort that matched lush shoegaze soundscapes with driving krautrock beats, and earned the band press attention from outlets including NPR Music, Noisey, Vogue.com, and Stereogum, among others.

A moodier and more atmospheric bend to their shoegazing melodicism and pop sensibilities, ‘Outside (briefly)’ comprises a developed dynamism. The tuneful drone of first single “Contact” drives happily alongside the epic squall of intertwining guitars on “Passing Thing”. This is in contrast to the more sparse, meditative landscape of “Show A Flower A Candle And It Grows”. A track which in a ‘Ringoistic’ departure features lead vocals from drummer Cameron Allen.

Having built upon a familiarity with audiences touring extensively across the U.S. and Europe in support of the album, opening for acts such as The Drums, Tamaryn, Pond and Craft Spells. Froth have cultivated a reputation as a guitar-driven band. Whilst Froth retain their original sounds, fans will find these new songs augmented by highlights of cello and synths (courtesy of Dolas), as well as drum machines, Rhodes, and other keys. Lyrically, Ashworth found the works of authors Richard Brautigan (the album title comes from a chapter in one of his books) and Haruki Murakami as a fitting inspiration for the dark beauty of ‘Outside (briefly)’s music’. The result is their most varied yet cohesive work to date. The album has an evolved production quality and no longer feels like a documentation of a live band, more a collection of songs and a complete, full-bodied album.

See the official video for single ‘Contact’ below:

Froth release ‘Outside (briefly)’ via new label Wichita Recordings on February 24th.  Find out more here:

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