Over the past seven years The Foreign Exchange, which consists of Phonte and Nicolay, has steadily released 3 studio albums and now a live album. Dear Friends is atypical of many live albums because we’re treated to hearing the many different layers of each song in a different sense than a studio album.
Zo!, Sy Smith, and Jeanne Jolly accompany The FE in this acoustic live experience. At first glance, the album looks like just another album with the same songs from a variety of different projects; both songs from solo releases and the studio albums were included. This is normally a huge turnoff especially when you grow accustomed to a certain sound from one artist, and change is coming.
Then you play the album once, and you start to recognise the music with a little flair and extra kick. While the studio albums relied heavily on the production, this was a totally different experience. We here the acoustic version of the different songs from their catalogs and we are treated to the chemistry between the performers. Take for example “Daykeeper,” on the album Leave it All Behind, we here a very mellow, but awakening mood. This is the song that really opened myself to the Foreign Exchange and all of Phonte and Nicolay’s work. On Dear Friends, one would expect a familiar sound, but here we get a revamped acoustic version with a more potent version of those mellow very almost quiet lyrics. The draw between the performers is very evident on songs like this.
Along with the actual cd, a dvd of the live performance is included. While the music sounds the same, what sets this apart from most live performance dvd’s is we get to see the entire concert including the transitions. The allure between each performer is seen even more clearly as we get to see the humor and wit of each different artist on stage. The enthusiasm on songs like Daykeeper are very evident when we here and get to see the “yeehaws. This release features a very different sound than most FE fans would expect, but with the various performers and the acoustic sound the performance was nailed. This is the type of concert you would see everyone dancing in their sits, grooving to the different rhythms.
The Foreign Exhange’s Dear Friends came out on the 28th of June and can be bought on iTunes now.
