The American Analog Set – For Forever

Arrived and got two of LP1 in it - how does this even happen?

the music is amanset with obvious signs of fleetwood mac smashing pumpkins and its guitar riff of " the eye of the tiger......"!!!!!!
the singer's manner is more aggressive, but the sound is 100% aman set with a very good production and the printing of the vinyl is very good too.

At first listen, I’ll admit it was challenging for me to detach from The AmAnSet from 18 years ago and this one I am hearing now. Once I did (which was truly into my second listen of the album), I felt more and more attached to this new work. The guitar work is crunchy and yet, still has those addictive hooks. The bass has never been louder and towards the front. Andrew’s voice has respected time’s curse and changed with it, but still remains hushed enough to blend with the sound. The vibes are there, the clock tic drums, everything is still there.

This feels like a different, harsher and more pissed off band. And I am 100% for it. What I wouldn’t give for this to be the first album I hear of this band. Then transition into the older work. The change would be profound but be exciting.

This new work is just that…exciting and much like the predecessors, feels timeless.

Having received a pre-listen during the first week of October, this is not the American Analog Set album I’ve been dearly wishing for over the last 18 years. While the instrumentation and vocalized harmonies will instantly assure you that you’ve arrived to the correct address, the songs held within the grooves of this double album are not the warm languishing bits of intoxication that caused me to pass through a lazy afternoon wasted on the sofa.

Something happened to American Analog Set over the years, or perhaps the band is reacting to the crises enveloping our world, our culture, our politics, our environment and the fact the the group is now 18 years older. And no, the band did not look back on their previous records with a sense of nostalgia and awe. That said, there are dream-pop flourishing, yet even here, the band has managed to create a darker more edgy dream-pop filled with troubled waters that I’m not sure I’ll be spinning as much as I’d hoped. But hey, they’re not kids anymore, discovering their storytelling and their instruments. I’m just sad that I wasn't given the opportunity to ride with them through these sea-changes, where if I had, perhaps this album might not sound as off kilter as it does to me today.

Strangely enough For Forever is going to find a welcoming younger audience who perhaps never heard of Set Free or Know by Heart, an audience who are not looking for more of things familiar, where this new audience are nearly embracing a brand new band with a brand new sound for a brand new era.

*** The Fun Facts: Originally the band were known as The Electric Company, but alas, the name was already in use.

Review by Jenell Kesler