Rome Hero Foxes Announce New Album ’18 Summers’

Ryan June 11, 2018 235 Comments 95 views 0 likes

Houston quintet Rome Hero Foxes have announced their sophomore album, 18 Summers. 18 Summers, which represents a shift away from Rome Hero Foxes’ post-hardcore beginnings to a warmer indie rock sound, will be released on July 27th, 2018.

“It’s something different from what our listeners are used to but I feel like we were meant to create music like this. I feel right at home when I listen to it,” shares drummer Adrian Romero.

Adds guitarist Michael Fox: “18 Summers is a huge step in the maturity of the band. Artists progress and mature over time and this record is the most comfortable I’ve ever been with our music. Our newer sound hits closer to home with my influences growing up.”

Rome Hero Foxes named their sophomore LP 18 Summers, but it more accurately describes the band’s beginnings. Shortly after graduating high school, the quintet was discovered in 2016 by Dance Gavin Dance’s Kurt Travis and released For When You’re Falling Backwards. As far as debuts go, its expanse melded the urgency of post-hardcore with an inward gaze offsetting any chaos. That introspection, bent over swirling guitars and mesmerizing vocal lines, led to reinvention. Instead of baring their teeth through arrangements that spiraled and warped, the band took a self-imposed journey into simpler territory. A pair of twin EPs, I/O and Horoscope, reset Rome Hero Foxes as a group indebted to surf rock and indie pop instead of gnarlier waves, with the latter predicting their shimmering follow-up. Enter the real 18 Summers.

“During this time of writing all of this material, it made me envision all these songs as this sort of time capsule-like void or world where time is slow but life keeps moving faster,” vocalist and rhythm guitarist CJ Burton explains. With that definition in mind, it’s easy to understand the varied warmth and speeds put to tape here. “Seattle Queen,” with Andrew Hagan’s percolating keyboards leading the way, places love’s angled complexities behind a slice of bubblegum pop. “Chest Piece” splits its pathway between R&B schmaltz and vaulted pop-punk. Other fare, like the Black Mirror nod “San Junipero,” heighten interpersonal highs to infectious, but experimental highs. It’s the only track that reminds listeners of the band’s darker roots, with flecks of mathy guitar flanking verses. This album is as concerned with love as it is with its absence in the face of growing older and growing apart.

18 Summers enters like a dream – abrupt and disorienting – before adjusting to this new state with enthusiasm. This eternal sunshine captures a world where time is relative: sit back, relax, and dive in. Because here, love reigns supreme.

18 Summers Track Listing:
1. Lost In A Room
2. Break Your Own Bones
3. Chest Piece
4. 18 Summers
5. Be Your Side
6. Don’t Call My Name
7. San Junipero
8. Don’t Close The Door
9. Seattle Queen
10. Good For You