“Frederique” and “Rockets Fly” by The Forevres

Mildly urgent in its unfurling of excessive harmonies as heavenly as they are exhibitive of a deeper appreciation for old world pop than the status quo would call for, there’s no way to describe The Forevers’ single and music video “Frederique” as anything other than delightfully indulgent. In that same sense, the video for their track “Rockets Fly” perhaps owes just as much to the post-punk ideals of minimalistic psychedelia, exploiting the same melodic concepts as its counterpart in “Frederique” while leaving the gluttonous groove on the sidelines altogether. The bottom line? If you’re looking to hear one of the smartest young acts out of Poland this season, these two studio cuts are probably your best bet. 

The lead vocal in both “Rockets Fly” and “Frederique” tends to dominate the mix in either track, but there’s no getting around just how much of a mood the instrumentation lends every word sung by Natalia Safran. Safran’s lyrics are indeed quite charming and, in the case of “Frederique,” referential to a strain of French pop music admittedly as classic as 60’s garage rock to those of us in the know, but without her brother Mick’s keen prowess with the structuring of the backdrop, I don’t know how colorful they’d still be. This is a situation of ‘it takes two,’ and fortunately for us, these siblings couldn’t be better matched for one another creatively. 

Even if you aren’t that big a fan of psych-tinged pop music, I would still rank “Frederique” and “Rockets Fly” as must-listen songs in the realm of college radio hot tracks this month. There’s still a lot that we have to learn about The Forevers to determine their shelf-life in this emerging chapter in the history of international indie pop, but after hearing these two singles and seeing their videos for myself, I can say this act deserves all of the buzz they’re attracting right now and then

Zachary Rush