RON GALLO
From the opening distorted, fuzzed-out, heavy bass, and blown speakers, the album drops. Kicking the doors open and casting sunlight into shady places. ‘Entitled Man’ sets the tone for the record as Gallo employs his characteristic observational humour, nous, and razor-sharp wit as he highlights male privilege and sexual harassment.
A wild, hot mess of an album, it is a poignant record that holds the line and forcefully reminds one and all that justice is eternal vigilance and Gallo’s pen is mightier than the sword. The self-titled ‘Foreground Music’ is like catching a conversation with Gallo from himself to himself as his witty banter and random musings peppered throughout the song. The short and punchy ‘At Least I’m Dancing’ has Gallo questioning societal norms and the often-ludicrous impositions that hold sway over communities and conversations. As the name suggests, ‘Vanity March’ strides to a rhythmic beat as Gallo stands atop the presidium pointing out how petty and insignificant it can all be and not to forget how short and finite time is.
The slow-down tongue-in-cheek ‘Yucca Valley Marshalls’ is a reminiscent stroll down the shoe and housewares chains aisle as Gallo thinks about Emma Stone and the movie, he recently saw her in. Up tempo and power pop ‘San Benedetto’ is a little slice of multiculturism as seen through the eyes of a small boy. Gallo’s narrative style and lyricism just roll off the tongue in ‘Can My Flowers Even Grow Here’. Emphasizing each word of the title, it is with part reflection and part contemplation that Gallo weighs up the trajectory of relationships as they invariably move towards a predictable and common outcome.
One of the finest tracks on the album comes in the form of ‘Big Truck Energy’ as Gallo paints an all to familiar picture of an American phenomenon. An aggressive citizen in an oversized truck terrorising all those around him, including Gallo, with equal measures of hostile behaviour and overzealous, misplaced nationalistic pride. A cleverly poetic assessment of one individual who embodies the swelling numbers of Trump-style supporters. Simply told and eloquently delivered, the song is a highwater mark on an already quality-laden record.
The construction of apartment blocks on either side of Gallo’s residence that occurred during the recording of Foreground Music feels evident in ‘Life Is A Privilege (Interlude)’. The jarring sounds seem to resonate as much as the building works did during the album’s recording. Seeking refuge the bedroom jam ‘Anything But This’ sways from side to side in its quest to seek a break, a reprieve, some kind of relief. The very honest and heartfelt ‘I Love Someone Buried Deep Inside Of You’ is a sweet and endearing track. Desperate in its approach to reach out to the untouchable, it is a tender and stirring track.
Foreground Music is a fantastic record and has in equal measure; sophistication, well-crafted lyrism, and a sonic structure that hits all the right notes. An album for the times as much as one for the ages, Gallo stretches himself on this album but not so far as to break any of the fundamentals or compromise its interest, consistency, and delivery.
