Review Summary: Heartfelt indie-folk that balances nicely between clever and meaningful lyrics
Front Porch Step is the stage name of one man, named Jake Mcelfresh. Aside from confusingly giving up a real name that would be seriously preferable to such a ridiculous stage name, this album is tinged with perfection. I found myself enjoying every song more and more on my first listen, and the second listen was a completely different experience.
For the most part, "Aware" Is a gorgeous album lyrically. There isn't as much variety here as some music, but that quickly becomes part of it's appeal. Whether he's singing about loving someone, missing them, or wishing they would just leave him the hell alone, (See album highlight "Drow") Every word seems genuine and very real. There was no moment that I thought anything was poorly written, nothing on my first listen to turn me off (Although the very first time i heard the lyric "dive my face between your thighs till i can barely feel my lips" it was a bit of a slap in the face. This line, coming from the song "If I tremble," along with a few less than stellar lines in the song lullaby are the only lyrical miscues to be found anywhere. The instrumentation here is very simple, consisting almost exclusively of acoustic guitar and tamborine.
Something that makes the experience as a whole better is the way the album plays out. the first half seems very bitter, mostly seeming to be directed towards different girls that have let Mcelfresh down in some way or another, while the second half is very sweet, seeming to be written from a happy area of his life. The last two songs, however, are very clearly about someone who is died. "The Day You Took The Good Away" is an incredibly personal song about a girlfriend that kills herself "Your mother said you're up above, and all you wanted was a man for you to love. Well I just started breaking down, because the angel I've been searching for has left me on the ground." and "I won't say i'm ok" seems to follow up on this song. The second time I listened to the album was a completely different experience, because after the first listen it began to seem as though the entire album was written about the same girl. In this lies the beauty of the words that Mcelfresh delivers so passionately.
This album is the kind of music that i would recommend to anyone and everyone. Words can only do it so much justice. It is simple, it is short, and it is thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. Give it a listen, you won't regret it.
