album of the week: born hot - chris farren
words: Aaron Eisenreich
Chris Farren’s latest album, Born Hot, is the perfect example of Farren as a solo musician and as a stage/online persona. If you wanted to, you could see the album (along with the fantastically oddball videos for “Search 4 Me” and “Love Theme From “Born Hot”) as shining a light on the person we present to the world—whether online or not—versus how we see ourselves in reality. In doing so, Farren has nearly perfected the seeming clash of his charmingly overconfident persona against his pop music full of intensely personal, direct, and witty lyrics on Born Hot.
Anyone not in on the joke gets the message right away with album opener “Bizzy,” one of five tracks with vocals from executive producer Jenny Owen Youngs. Farren begins with the question “Why do I feel out of place in my own outer space?” making it clear that he is not the shirtless casanova on the album cover, but rather another person uncomfortable in their own skin and trying to figure how to “lift [their] body up today.” The sparse instrumentation grows as layers are added and the first of quite a few guitar solos pops up.
“Bizzy” leads into “Love Theme From “Born Hot” and “Search 4 Me,” the first two singles released in the lead up to the album. “Search 4 Me” is one of two songs to feature Farren’s Antartcigo Vespucci bandmate, Jeff Rosenstock. Both tunes are instantly catchy and fun, full of synths and poppy melodies. They also contain examples of Farren’s lyrics that use depth and light humor to sum up his anxieties and worldview. I particularly love the idea of looking “back on today years from now” and worrying if he’d just think about computer screens.
Farren pulls back the intensity after those two with “Too Dark,” a lovely tune thanking “the ones who open up the windows” and pull you out of whatever personal rut you’re in. That’s followed by “Domain Lapse,” an uplifting anthem to quit your job to. The incredible “Does The Good Outweigh The Bad?” comes next, and it’s full of bells and snyths that act as a perfect cap to the first side of the record. The song features Laura Stevenson, who also sings on “Too Dark.” (It’s a solo record, but it’s full of other musicians that fans of Farren will know and love, including a credit for Farren’s wife Cassie on claps.)
“Does The Good Outweigh The Bad?” has one of the most unique, interesting, never-expected-to-hear-that-in-a-song lyrics I’ve come across and it’s such a cool moment. I honestly wanted to make the bulk of this review about it, but that would have been strange. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t listened to the album yet, but you’ll know which one I mean. I love the lyric not just for how it catches your attention, but in the context of the verse’s “sharp left turn to depression.” It’s such an open, vulnerable, and for most people, embarrassing thing to admit your viewing habits, and the fact that he did it in a song while also dropping a lot of the instruments to make sure you heard the line is great.
The second half of the record picks up with “I Was Amazing,” an uptempo rocker featuring Jess Abbott of Tancred. The opening line (“What if I was amazing?”) wonderfully reveals the false confidence of the title with the chorus dwelling on the decision to just stay alive. Next comes “R U Still There?” (featuring Karl Kuehn of Museum Mouth), the song that reminds me the most of Farren’s last solo record, Can’t Die, with the way the guitar lines work alongside the vocal melody.
“R U Still There?” is followed by “Surrender,” the final single released from the album, and an excellent song that features Stevie Knipe of Adult Mom. It’s followed by “Space In Yr Love,” and “Floruit De Maga.” The first of which has a fun doowop-like groove in the verse and the second deals with the feelings in the wake of a lost loved one overtop of undeniably fun instrumentation.
The album closer, “Credits,” really captures the act of walking out of a movie. There’s a hazy, dreamy feeling of coming out of a dark room and seeing that not only is it daylight, but the world has been going on while you were lost in a different reality. It’s a perfect closing song to a(nother) perfect Chris Farren album.