Somewhere between the stadium pop of Heart and the dive-bar dirt of Springsteen, Cameron is undeniable in craft, humour and sax solos.
While it may be a little ingrained in its sounds, there’s a lot of soul and real dynamic energy in the writing to make this stand out as a sleeper hit.
The art-sleaze of Alex Cameron’s second album transcends its surface-level smarm to become a biting piece of commentary. Thankfully, the songs are as effortlessly catchy as they are eminently creepy.
Cameron's obscure blend of synth-pop and neo-electronica, along with his dark, lurking persona seem to fit the criteria of a background character of a David Lynch film.
While it's easy to admire the craft behind Forced Witness, it's a little harder to embrace the album as a whole -- and not necessarily in the ways Cameron may have intended.
Forced Witness is perhaps too heavily grounded in the sounds of the decade [1980s], to the point that a "heard it before" spectre hangs over the album.
Random Person: “How many times can you say “Faggot” in an album without pissing too many people off?”
Alex Cameron: *downs pint of lager* “Watch and learn, faggot”
This is just a 100, I literally just can't review this because I can't put into words the amount of love and appreciation I have for this project, it simply is "Forced Witness" by Alex Cameron, I could try and say something I liked about this thing but I literally like every single thing about this album, I've never loved a set of songs the way I love this one, literally every song is worth listening to, every track is fun, each song brings something new, it's just... a masterpiece ... read more
Can pop be fun again?
Yes, with Alex Cameron, the King of Musical Satire, as I like to dub him. In 2016, Alex Cameron proved that he could continue to exist after Seekae with his debut solo album "Jumping The Shark". The Australian dandy has made his conversion by flirting with 80's sounds. And since it worked, Cameron decided to release a second album "Forced Witness".
Surrounded by Jonathan Rado (Foxygen) at the production, Brandon Flowers (The Killers) and his ... read more
Candy May- 8
Country Figs- 8
Runnin' Outta Luck feat. Brandon Flowers- 8
Stranger's Kiss feat. Angel Olsn- 9
True Lies- 9
Studmuffin96- 8
The Chihuahua- 8
The Hacienda- 8
Marlon Brando- 9
Politics of Love- 9
1 | Candy May 4:08 | 85 |
2 | Country Figs 4:11 | 89 |
3 | Runnin' Outta Luck 3:51 feat. Brandon Flowers | 92 |
4 | Stranger's Kiss 4:01 feat. Angel Olsen | 85 |
5 | True Lies 3:52 | 90 |
6 | Studmuffin96 3:15 | 83 |
7 | The Chihuahua 4:06 | 83 |
8 | The Hacienda 4:31 | 83 |
9 | Marlon Brando 4:44 | 86 |
10 | Politics of Love 4:31 | 93 |
#2 | / | FLOOD |
#5 | / | Les Inrocks |
#12 | / | The Needle Drop |
#13 | / | Loud and Quiet |
#21 | / | Time Out New York |
#23 | / | Earbuddy |
#38 | / | The Line of Best Fit |