Foundation
“Self Titled”
(Fueled By Ramen)
Greeted with acoustic sincerity. Not until the 3rd song do we get some percussion. In fact, the method here is mostly acoustic guitar structured songs, with subtle additions of another element to give it more life than a guy and his guitar. I betcha it gets him laid. “Here, ah, I wrote this song for you…” (and my next tour). Girl creams. Foundation gets laid. Oldest trick in the book. But R.Huddleston (who gets main credits for most instruments and (assumed) writing) employs a few friends for the subtle touches that keep this from being an entirely acoustic album. R.Huddleston thinks we care about his life. Maybe we do. It seems important to him. Typical themes of loves lost, bullshit memories and the horrors or yes… having a normal life. And he can craft these somewhat generic and master of the obvious lyrics into songs. (Ok, he makes a good relatable verse here and there, but peppered with, “Find ourselves, alone in every crowd.” -used imagery). No mistake though, these are all songs. They feel like complete ideas. Again, ideas I necessarily care about? Probably not. I’m a busy guy. Those who have some time to kill and think Dashboard Confessional is oh so “self-exposing”; Foundation is not insulting on any level. No sense of time wasted listening to this, as an underlying sophistication does exist. Musicianship cannot be denied. It just doesn’’t always command the listening time.
