Farewell Continental- Hey, Hey Pioneers

Farewell Continental is this awesome pop punk band from Minneapolis. When I first read the press release on this, I read the members as Allie Fox (vocals and keyboard), Dr. Richard Kimble (vocals, guitar), Dr. Norman Spencer (vocals, bass), Jack Ryan (drums, vocals), and Rick Deckard (vocals, guitar.)..Those are names from Harrison Ford movies. But hell, I'll go with it. Allie and Richard Kimble both took the lead vocals. I looked at the picture of this group, and thought, Hey... That guy looks like Justin Pierre. Needless to say, I was excited for it to come out in May because hell, it looked awesome.

Then I start listening to it. And before I dive into this, I'd like to make something clear. I have a sixth sense. I like to call it my Justinpierredar. I can always tell Justin's voice from a mile away. Any big Motion City Soundtrack people out there probably have the same radar in them, too. And then I listened to the first track- "Seasoned Veterans." My Justinpierredar was going INSANE! So I do some minimal research, and I find out it is. They have fake names. This group is ACTUALLY Kari Gray, Justin Pierre, Thomas Rehbein, Jim Adolphson, and Josh Mckay. Tricky bastards. Needless to say, with that combination of talent, this band rocks. "Seasoned Veteran" is a great song. It starts off sounding like it might as well be MCS- it's the familiar strange quiet background guitar melody with Justin's voice singing just to you.. But as the track goes on, you start to notice some differences. The keyboards are better. The full melody kicks in, and then it takes on a totally different (yet completely awesome) sound. 

"New Tile Floor" is probably the cutest song on the album. The starting keyboards from "Allie" and duet between her and Dr. Kimble is the most adorable thing I have ever heard. They sound so great together. I think their voices were made for eachother, and the lyrics are absolutely phenomenal. But what else would you expect from a band that includes Pierre? It's fucking awesome.

Other songs, like "Mad Operator" are more Allie dominated. She has a great voice, and I love the lyrics. They're so good. It's adorable, catchy indie pop punk and I adore it. 

"A Story from the Bottom of the Sea" actually reminds me a lot of Lemuria. The melody could easily be Lemuria, and the vocals are very similar. And if it's like Lemuria, it's gotta be good. 

"Tiger Claw" is the last song on the album, and it continues the same theme the rest of the album has. Awesome. It's got very interesting guitar and bass lines, great harmonies, and amazing drums.

Normally I like to mention the very best songs of an album, but how do I do that when all of the songs absolutely ROCK? This band is wonderful. I found a  new love in some of the members, and continued an old love for the other ones. Even though it came out in May, I bet a lot of you hadn't heard it yet and you damn well better.

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-Bear