Talking Forever Drops Intense Debut
Talking Forever. Photo: Uncredited/Courtesy of Artist/Facebook
I love when new bands pop up and they can actually bring it when they play live because that’s when you realize that what you hear recorded isn’t simply manufactured. With new Houston band, Talking Forever, their strengths are far from manufactured. While the band refers to their sound as alternative, it’s closer to third wave emo mixed with screamo elements, creating a sound that’s hard to ignore. On their debut release, My New Home, the four-piece creates a sound that’s familiar but also their own, and when they dig in, they’re digging deep.
They open things up with the dreamy opening of “Unacceptable Behavior,” where they take their time in getting things going. However, once things pick up pace, they strike your ears with an intensity that’s been missing from the genre for ten years now. The distanced vocals, the almost Spart sounding riffs, and the thunderous drums are definitely something to revel in. When the vocals begin to get more intense, they’re met with a stellar backing vocal that adds rather than takes away, as they often can. The band proves they can build up your expectations before delivering the punch you’re expecting while throwing melodies and heaviness together forming a sound that’s pretty fantastic. They follow this with the bombastic and heavily intricate sounds of “Shirt Waist,” before taking you to the first standout of the album, the catchy and hook heavy “Cicadas.” While the band slows things down at the opening, they offer up nice melodies and vocals before slapping you in the face with a wall of angst and ire. Changing rhythms and going hard and fast, Talking Forever makes you understand that they’re more than the sum of their parts before returning to the slower speed of the track’s opening. The best part of these changes is that they’re done with a precision held for bands that have been together longer, yet they do it like it’s second nature.
Reminding me of Mineral, the band offers up “Close To Home” next and doubles the vocals alongside a peppered drum track and these beautiful guitar tones. When they take off, the drums take the lead while these catchy riffs suck you in like a lover in the late night. The cluster of drums, dual vocals, and intense riffs and rhythm are insane in the good way, thus giving you another standout song. Seriously, they change directions multiple times and they never lost me once, which rarely happens. Two tracks later they up their game with the strangely electronic opening of “Forrest Ln.” The song feels closest to an ambient track by a producer who refuses to be photographed, but there are elements like live piano and multiple vocals that should offer up the notion that this band could pretty much do whatever they want within the confines of this album, and they’ll certainly have your attention. On the eighth track, “Ellipsis,” the band comes back with hints of The Hotelier and Hum with tons of fuzz and angst coupled with melodic guitars and tons of intimacy in the vocals. The way producer Jon Januhowski mixed this track is completely different than what you’re hearing from most producers, making it feel like the band is performing all around you. When the screams come in, they have a close yet distant feeling, which is difficult to explain but it’s completely true.
The band takes the acoustic route to finish up the album on “Light of Day,” and while it’s different from the rest of the record, it’s similar in so many ways. This record is truly one you need to hear for yourself, as Talking Forever seems to pull from multiple places without stealing from any of them. Enlisting Januhowski who seems to employ methods most producers refuse to implement is a nice touch as well, as this album sounds like the band is with you while it plays.
You can catch Talking Forever in person at Notsuoh on March 14 and at White Oak Music Hall on June 16.
