Foreign Air is giving us a taste of their debut album Good Morning Stranger, out October 16, with “Ultra Mega Love.” It’s bright and full of sounds that kind of make you delightfully unsure where you are. This is specific, so bear with me, but I kind of get Blue Crush soundtrack vibes, which is to say that I feel a tug on my bell sleeve back in time to the early 2000s, when Jacob Michael and Jesse Clasen came of age.
This single has a little bit of Nikki Costa groove – some Lenny Kravitz distortion with the vintage instruments these two bicoastal boys used while recording in LA. Disclaimer: I have not extensively listened to Nikki Costa or Lenny Kravitz outside of the Blue Crush soundtrack, so I don’t really know if they are cool beyond what 12-year-old me thought of those two songs in 2002. What I’m getting at is that Foreign Air dug up those good feelings so deeply wrapped up in the nostalgia of discovering all sorts of different music.
But beyond all that time traveling through reverb and tremolo, they maintain a modern and dynamic electro-pop sound. “Ultra Mega Love” is a little spacey and ethereal, it’s a little grungy… it’s even a little bit shiny in a spaghetti western sun at the start. It feels cinematic, sheathed in a warm filter, but it’s also super fun. You can 100% tell that these two made it their goal to have a good time pushing each other creatively while they experimented with this track.
Produced by Konrad Snyder (Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Milo Greene), “Ultra Mega Love” was written with Italian composer Ennio Morricone in mind and a manic, childlike need to make noise deep in their guts. When they work, everything is always plugged in and ready to go so they can just let the unexpected happen. Lyrically, the song is about “embracing the weirdness inside each of us – at the end of the day that is ultimately what brings us all together.”
Follow Foreign air on Instagram and listen to them on Spotify. The full album Good Morning Stranger will be out on October 16th, but you can Pre-Order here.
