Rating: RRRR
Label: Frontiers 2019
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
Something suspicious about this duo. Swedish musician, songwriter, producer Daniel Flores (Issa, The Murder Of My Sweet etc.) and US of A singer Robbie LaBlanc from Blanc Faces have the appearance of some kind of dodgy seller at your local used car dealer, with a three-piece pic and matching backdrop. Even the artwork is a direct insult to the potential buyer as the woman is way too aggressive in her "buy a used car from these two or I'll scratch your window" attitude.
But seriously. Angels in Blue is the duo's latest offering to the ancient Gods of AOR and pure dut-dut keyboards. Musically, Find Me are paying major tribute to everything that is the eighties with capitol E. LaBlanc, one of those singers that could easily take an average song and turn it into something out of ordinary. As a AOR duo, they are friggin' excellent, but it would have been nice if they wrote their own material to at least some extent. It's mostly the same bunch of writers as the Toby Hitchcook album (Marcus Nygren, Mike Palace, Alessandrio Del Vecchio) and you know what to expect really. It's nice, it's catchy, it's uber slick rock inspired and influenced by the likes of Survivor, Jim Peterik, Signal, Drive, She Said, Strangeways, etc. etc.
Flores enjoy those big keys productions and opener "No Tears In Paradise" include some excellent ebony/ivory work by Sören Kronqvist. "Chain Of Love" is the work of the underrated Torben Enevoldsen and something like "Waiting For A Lifetime" is basically POP disquised as AOR (or vice versa?), but it's darn good and LaBlanc sings his heart out. "True Believer" is a bit too much 'Eurovision' for my personal taste though. Check out the triumphant return of pomp keys on "You Are The Only One" and simply hit replay over and over again. Ehem. In my humble opinon. It's always a mistake to include a classic song such as the Survivor cover of "Desperate Dreams" on your album. People enjoyed your new songs... and now they'll have to compare it to an all-time classic?? Big mistake. Music is forever connected to special memories and nostalgia. Two things you can never beat or compete against. The used car dealer/seller image is no doubt better than spandex and ozone killing hairdos. However. Cheer up next time and go all in on Miami Vice and blazers. Recommended!
facebook.com/findmebandofficial
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