fourtitude - folk legend

Fourtitude

Folk Legend
self-released; 2014

3.0 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

David Spencer and Ryan Farrar met at Saint Joseph's College and formed a friendship over a mutual love of alternative 90’s rock. They ended up writing music together and eventually met Michael Garrity who plays bass in their band Fourtitude. They recently released an eleven-song album entitled Folk Legend. The album has a couple of well-written songs but it is hard to get past the production. It’s not a lo-fi sound; it’s simply a bad recording that sounds like it was recorded with one microphone. The vocals sound if they are being sung from a different room, the guitar is shrill and there is no low end. All in all there is some talent here but it wasn’t captured properly.

“I Am Nobody” is a Weezer-influenced song that has a couple of decent hooks. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to decipher what the singer is saying. Luckily, they provide the lyrics on Bandcamp. The lyrics are rather dismal and self-deprecating. He sings about his existential crisis “I am nobody / From nowhere really / I'm here right now /And you don't even know me / I am no one / That you care to talk to / I'm here right now And that means next to nothing / My songs are free.” The second song “Folk Legend” is indeed a folk song and thankfully you can hear the lyrics this time around. 

“Old Saint Joe” is a catchy song underneath the lo-fi white noise and barely audible drums. The lyrics are fun and basically revolve around playing music. The vocalist sings “Halloweenie in Merlini in three weeks at Saint Joe / I'm on the drums, it's gonna be a hell of a show / And you should go / I play bass, man, but it's raining outside / I'd rehearse, but my Core paper's due / Now I'm an RA and in Fourtitude dude / It's a lot of work, but what's a legend to do?”

The band combines their 90’s Weezer-style alternative music with lyrics about Christmas on “Here Comes Christmas!” while “Stuck” has a couple of solid moments. 

It’s ultimately the production that adversely affects the record not always the songs themselves. There is some talent here but they will need to up their game in terms of quality if they want to take their music to the next level. 

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