Run, Forever and ONSIND were my two favourite musical discoveries of last year. Both had albums that came out in 2010 that I didn't hear until 2011, but it would have been a close fight for album of the year had I heard them in 2010 (or if they came out in 2011). The ONSIND story can come another time, this is about how I heard Run, Forever for the first time late one night and how I fell in love with this record.
In the lead up to Fest the organisers put out samplers on bandcamp of the bands playing. Given that I was flying half way round the world, and because I wouldn't be able to afford Fest again for another few years afterwards, I wanted to hear as many of the bands playing as possible. On the first sampler, at about one in the morning sometime in July I heard The Devil, and Death, and Me for the very first time. I was blown away by it, and I still am now. The song was basically perfect: a marching beat, shouty vocals AND group vocals, catchy chorus, a little breakdown all wrapped up in 3 minutes. You can't really ask for more.
Needless to say, I looked them up and found their album online and listened to that over and over again in the months that followed. I had my doubts that it could be as good as the title track I heard on the sampler, but it is. I can honestly say I've never heard such a heart-felt record. The singer sings/shouts the lyrics with an urgency that only In The Aeroplane Over The Sea can beat, and you can feel their loss in almost every line of every song. All the things I loved about the title track appear again throughout the album at every turn and the beat of the drums carries the album the whole way through. A Sequence of Sad Events, The Grand Illusion and 10,000 Leagues are all highlights, but the other songs between them are still fantastic, and Lifted is a perfect closer.
On the Friday of Fest they played in the Laboratory and I got there especially early to make sure I'd see them (the bonus to this was that we also saw Cutman, another good discovery). They were brilliant and the crowd went suitably mad for them. I had a great time and sung along to all the songs I could remember the words to. Afterwards I bought the LP and, something I don't tend to do, told the band what a great time I'd had. They were as good live as I'd hoped they would be.
I often worry when I get a record I instantly love that I'll over play it and get a bit sick of it. I've had this record seven months now and played it countless times and I'm nowhere near sick of it. I can't recommend this record to people enough; one song has made it onto every mixtape I've made since the first time I heard them. One of the reasons I was so keen to listen to loads of Fest bands before going out was because it might be my only chance to see them. Some bands get the good fortune of a UK tour, but not always. I hope Run, Forever one day make it over so I can see them again, but if they don't then I'm very pleased indeed that I got to see them and that I have this record in my life.
Format: 12", A3(ish) poster insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £6.20 new
Bought: Fest
When: 28/10/11
Colour: Pale blue?
Etching: Side A: "This record in every possible way is for Corey Wolfram, RIP my friend" Side B: "If you lose that battle, you lose that battle 9 times out of 10"
mp3s: download
