'Dépaysement' is the sound of being somewhere far, far away from home. It hums with the shock of being suddenly alone—in a place where no one cares who you are or what you’re doing.

On their debut album, Melbourne band Foreign/National sound enlivened. Having worked tirelessly on a string of acclaimed singles since the release of their self-titled EP in 2014, the band have embraced the longer format with open arms and a healthy dose of ambition.

From the opening bars of its titular track to the haunting death-rattle of ‘22’, the album’s closer, the band weave their way through a sprawling narrative with fresh lucidity.

“I swear I used to be a confident man. What happened to the confident man?” asks frontman Mark Gage on ‘Too Sentimental’, the LP’s first single, sifting through a distant memory—or perhaps a fading fantasy— with uncompromising honesty.

On ‘Mombasa’, we hear cues from Brian Wilson and Kamuran Akkor and as always, the sound of bassist Sean Gage and drummer Rhys Grunden sticking together like liquid nails, hurling the record forward with impossibly tight rhythmic interplay.

On keys, Sam Stearne brings palpable tension to ‘Ballerina’, and imbues ‘Nicole Warren’ with a gorgeous sense of weightlessness. Tom Stephenson, similarly omnipresent and shapeshifting, reaches dizzying heights of slacker ecstasy on ‘Sunny Afternoon’ and ‘Never Really’.

More than anything, however, ‘Dèpaysement’ shines as a product of undeniable chemistry and collective devotion. This is an album of songs that have lived many lives and taken many forms, but now feel strangely familiar and at home together.

Foreign/National’s debut LP, Dépaysement, will be released February 3 through DOWNTIME.

ARTWORK: Alex Jennings ( www.ajayjennings.com )

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Dépaysement

Today, Melbourne outfit FOREIGN/NATIONAL share​ TOO SENTIMENTAL: another beautiful slice of warped pop lifted from their upcoming debut LP.

Where Tristesse — the band’s previous single — was driven by punchdrunk optimism, Too Sentimental wakes up sheepish and hungover, all too aware of nostalgia’s toxicity. Where Tristesse blushes, Too Sentimental winces.

Demoed in a style reminiscent of Italian psych duo Dumbo Gets Mad, Too Sentimental bloomed into something much bolder during the recording process with the band’s longtime producer, Joey Walker (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard).

The final product artfully oscillates between the band’s usual lo-fi, oversaturated sound and a wider, cleaner aesthetic. “We started by trying to mirror Deerhunter’s soaring guitar sounds and eventually landed on something closer to Yes’s Owner of a Lonely Heart played on shittier gear,” the band comment.

ARTWORK: Alex Jennings ( www.ajayjennings.com )

Too Sentimental

Mombasa

Ballerina

Kadıköy

Nicole Warren

Never Really

Sunny Afternoon

Melbourne, AU

Management/Booking:
Mark Gage
foreign.national.band@gmail.com

PR:
Viv Mellish
viv@gyrostream.com