Awesome Underground ★ Music Review: FRONT PORCH SOCIETY: AWESOME UNDERGROUND ★ MUSIC REVIEW

Front Porch Society

"Finding Forward"
First impressions are important!

They couldn't have picked a better track to use as the opening to their album. "Finding Forward" gives the perfect motivational push to get you to feel that need to listen to the entirety of the album that mirrors that name. Trust me, you're not going to put the album down after hearing that for an introduction.

"Hold On (Let Go)"

Honestly, for me the song doesn't start until 1:19. I found myself uninterested until that point. To be fair, I am particular about female vocals and lightweight songs. But don't let the beginning of this song fool you. The song as a whole is no lightweight entity. And the slow start is necessary to create the fantastic buildup to heavier things. I feel like the progression of the song allows aid for one to do exactly what the song title suggests: Hold on... Let go. This is absolutely a therapeutic track.

"Dry Ground"

The first time I listened to this album, I really thought the title track was my favorite. And I still love it just as dearly as the first time I heard it. But, "Dry Ground" is the one I find myself singing around the house, before I ever click play on anything. So I guess it wins, doesn't it? It has held hostage a portion of my musical storage bin (AKA brain), and I'm completely fine with that. "Because I'm way too young to be this desert I've become" and "I'm afraid that my roots have turned to chains. Would you catch my fallin' heart?" Do those type of lyrics really need any further glorification? Nope. Put your heart back in your chest. I know it jumped out after that.

"Porchlight"

Something about a piano and an acoustic guitar just hold the potential to emit the feeling of safety, comfort, and home... well for me they do. This song starts out sounding like a peaceful night of pondering, and I guess it ends up that way. But I got a little more out of it than that. To get personal about it, it honestly brought me back to coming home after two weeks of constant travel and participation in charity during that travel. Something about seeing new places, new people, and working towards the common well-being of the human race will really put your mind in a different state. Coincidentally, when I arrived home from this particular trip, it was very late at night and I did experience exactly what I feel this song is about. I don't know, maybe I'm just attaching it to my personal experience, as I often will do with music, but it makes it all that more special. However, with those things put together: coming home late after travel and having my mind still on those I had been putting my efforts towards really put me in that place: "But I can't stop wondering if my world deserves to change." Significant life experiences can sometimes make you feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Personal past experience aside, "Everything is fine," can be a grand thing, but sometimes it can be discouraging. Nobody really wants "fine" out of life, and I feel that was part of the point.

On top of that, once you move out of your family home, life is different. And this could be about that. Because going "home" for me, you know the home that isn't really my home anymore, but will always be home, can be a comfort sometimes and sometimes it can make me disappointed in myself for not being who I once thought I'd be by now.

"Beautiful Mess"

I don't have a ton to say about this song, other than everyone has one of those. And you will relate to this song. Maybe not yet, but at some point in your life, this will be your anthem. It's pretty much about a failed relationship and it sounds a lot like a first love-type thing to me. As every in track on this album, the lyrics are flawless and gorgeous.

"Hallelujah"
Is a double cover, and of course, they did it very well.

"Carolina"
Is most definitely a love song to a state, unless you know of a girl with trees and sunsets sprouting from her somewhere. I feel like it was an important track for this band because loving where you live is half of the battle in enjoying life.

I have to express that my favorite part of Finding Forward is the intelligence and beauty that are both constants in the lyrics of every song. Musicians can fake their way through tons of things, but genius writing is not one of them.

Front Porch Society has started on a new project, which you will get updated of on their Facebook and Bandcamp. I highly suggest following this group of talented musicians to keep up with their progress and growth.