Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Please follow these instructions: First insert the CD, How Far Our Bodies Go, then load it up.  Next, play the entire CD through.  This is an important step; don't just listen to the first track and write this one off as another album to collect dust in your collection of "seldom touched albums”. Play this Fake Problems release again a few times, and try to keep an open mind while you listen.

How Far Our Bodies Go is quite an eclectic mix, showcasing a wide variety of styles. It begins as a folk-punk conglomeration with sing-along choruses, then slides into some instrumental ska-melodies and then finally demonstrates a softer emo-acoustic side.  "Staying & Leaving as Living & Dying" is a good example of the emo side of things. This album weaves different sounds, styles, and horns throughout the 13 tracks.  If you're looking for a particular sound or a particular genre here, then you are probably going to be disappointed, so an open minded approach to Fake Problems is the only way to go.

 

There is fun to be had here -- it kind of reminds me of a sumertime show.  This would most likely be the band you'd see opening for the headliner, but you can picture the crowd getting into it -- singing along to the catchy choruses locked arm in arm in the pit and slogging along.

Fake Problems has only been together for a few years -- a group of four friends -- featuring Chris Farren (frontman), Dereck Perry (bass), Casey Lee (guitars), and Sean Stevenson (drums).  Morality, love of life and fear of death are issues that are tackled on How Far Our Bodies Go, the band's second album.  Fake problems are not concerned with fitting into any particular niche, selling a ton of records, or creating a false image. One phrase can describe them “Take me as I am”.

Fake Problems, How Far Our Bodies Go is eclectic and sometimes fun, but probably something I would pass on.