Album Review: Fol Chen - Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made

Originally published April 14, 2009 in Soundcheck Magazine.
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Fol Chen
Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made
Asthmatic Kitty

In the same manner as all the great superheroes who lead double lives, Fol Chen travels with a mysterious aura, being careful not to reveal too much about itself. Promotional photos show band members covering their identities with cardboard faces, and their biography only reveals that they are out to stop John Shade’s plague of mischief. Not much is known about Shade, but whoever he is, his sinister antics and dark, swift silhouette is felt running throughout Fol Chen’s anomalous, electro-pop debut, Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made.

Hailing from the Los Angeles district of Highland Park, Fol Chen comes off as a group of quiet intellectuals. Knowing that catching Shade will be difficult, the band equips the album with a wide range of tactics. Songs, such as, the opener “The Believers” and “The Longer U Wait” are full of eerie tension. Raspy female and male vocals sound aloof, but as the songs build up with ghostly horns and hammering percussion, it is obvious that the band members are plotting a grand move. They are the keepers of a dark secret that they only divulge with small hints.

The band sounds best with its uninhibited characteristics in songs such as “No Wedding Cake” and “The Idiot”. Clean vocals and bouncy synth create a lighthearted façade. On “Winter, That’s All”, the sound is a bit more industrial, but cascading drums, which are immensely engaging, provoke dancing and never lose grip of the listener’s attention. “Red Skies Over Garden City (The Balled of Donna Donna)” also is a bit more airy, but strings and whistling instruments in the background produce complicated layers, similar to the changing tempos of The Fiery Furnaces.

While the upbeat tracks are fun, there still is a strong sense of detachment from the rest of the world. However, the lyrics tend to be quite personal and create balance. Intimate thoughts and confessions are most notably shared on “Cable TV”: “I thought that I knew what love was / then I saw you dancing in your underwear, too / And I think of you / when I think of you baby / my heart just triples in size”.

Fol Chen creates the bizarre feeling of a blurred dream and sometimes feels a little too devious. If the band sticks with songs such as “Cable TV” and the other danceable tracks, it can remain interesting and clever without compromising its hero status in the battle against John Shade.