Reviewed by Paul Loader

Fiction Family is made up of Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins this, their debut, can best be described as rain falling on a brand new leather jacket. At first the rain simply rolls off. However, the more that rain falls the more the jacket soaks it up until it is saturated. On my first hearing I didn't get it at all. It felt a bit like the self-indulgent musings of a bunch of art college students. However, the more I listened to the CD the more the songs began to soak in. "When She's Near", the first single from the album, gradually begins to grab hold of you and won't let you go. "Betrayal" is haunting, especially when you realise that it is written from the perspective of a dead man who is murdered by his unfaithful partner and her lover. "Look For Me Baby" is a ukulele treat, a real foot tapper that is sadly all too short at one minute 35 seconds, and "Closer Than You Think" is a great example of much of the folk rock style that has been coming out of the US for the past five years or so. Overall, this album is quirky, odd and in places unnerving, but definitely not to be ignored.

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