The third release from ForEach Loop's new protest album, "The Perils of Texas," "Waco, TX (Bright Lights)," hits with a rambling, scratchy mix of indie, alternative, and garage rock. It's a throwback, but in its raw honesty, it's also a reversion to '90s-era alt-rock, with a message that's sharp enough to bite. Residing in Denton, TX, the three-piece band, featuring Chris Lam (Guitar/Vox), David Fraga (Bass/Vox), and Scott Ramirez (Drums/Vox), isn't just riding the memory-anthem wave.
This is a call to address injustice, hypocrisy, and forgotten history.
And yet, as the lyrics excavate gut-level truths, the band doesn't
forsake melody. That's their magic trick. Every hook sticks, every sung
line lodges, and it's hard not to find yourself singing along before you
know you've adopted a song of protest. "Waco, TX (Bright Lines)" hums with a restless energy. The fellow feeling manifests in the looseness of the instrumentation, the band teeters on losing control, but always manages to know exactly where it's going. The guitars are jagged and insistent, evoking the sounds of legends of lo-fi Pacific Northwest rockers like Modest Mouse or Built to Spill, but the spirit is all ForEach Loop as gritty and fiercely Texan.
ForEach Loop is special with a bold approach to sound. You can almost hear traces of their legendary live shows, spontaneous, clamorous, and unpredictable, bleeding into the studio recordings. Anything can happen at any minute. And in protest music, that edge is precisely what gives it urgency. "Waco, TX (Bright Lines)" is a confident move forward for a band that's not only finding its voice but putting it to good use. It's loud, raw, and necessary. The ForEach Loop is poised to stake out its own line in modern protest rock, which is flashy, unapologetic, and impossible to stop listening to if you tried.
Discover ForEach Loop on Instagram