Foreign Born

Los Angeles band Foreign Born may unfortunately be unfairly lumped in with a now marquee name like New York's Vampire Weekend, but the group's music stretches to encompass much more than afro-pop's highlife guitar aesthetic or percussive complexity. The band's relationship to California seems much clearer than the aforementioned pigeonholes, a relationship that while quite common for a Los Angeles-born band, is still ripe for interpretation. Foreign Born often explores 60s and 70s era folk and rock in darker, more brooding tones, with lead singer Matt Popileuch utilizing his dynamic vocal range for pop as well as ponder. Foreign Born's 2009 album is titled Person to Person and its single "Early Warnings" is the band's most literal interpretation of highlife music.