Track Review: School Reunion // Foreign Television
The brainchild of Welsh singer-songwriter Francis Allen, Foreign Television is a combination of Radiohead, Muse and Pearl Jam. Currently residing in Moscow, Russia, the multi-instrumentalist is building an international following with coverage from BBC Radio Wales, We Love That and The Other Side Reviews – to name but a few. The latest addition to Allen’s discography is the single ‘School Reunion’.
Adopting a truly DIY approach to music, Francis penned and recorded ‘School Reunion’ independently in the summer of 2020. Inspired by popular grunge/alt-rock bands from the 1990s, the track has a strong garage-rock feel with some dream-pop undertones. While it began as “messing about on the piano”, ‘School Reunion’ emerged as a harmonic combination of distorted guitars, steady drums and throaty vocals.
Written as a song about “having an existential crisis at a school reunion”, Francis touches on issues of isolation, confusion and angst in the new single. While the melody exposes a sense of vulnerability, it is Francis’ vocals that truly expose the protagonist’s fragility in their situation. Not to dissuade anyone from attending their own school reunion, but Foreign Television’s ‘School Reunion’ definitely pushes the message that people grow up, people grow apart and time changes everything so don’t expect to live in the past.
Moving, sincere, compelling and hopelessly honest, Francis Allen has whipped up a rather beguiling anthem in this single. I can’t wait for his new album to be released!