Felt
A shallow-color saturated image of a man sitting on a stool in a room filled with fallen leaves, juxtaposed against a dark grey wall.
Studio album by
The Chain Gang of 1974
ReleasedJune 23, 2017 (2017-06-23)
Recorded2016–17
GenreElectronic rock
Length36:11
LabelCaroline
ProducerThom Powers
The Chain Gang of 1974 chronology
Daydream Forever
(2014)		 Felt
(2017)		 Honey Moon Drips
(2020)

Felt is a studio album by the American musician Kamtin Mohager, released under his indietronica name, The Chain Gang of 1974. The fourth studio album by The Chain Gang of 1974, it was the second album released under a major label on June 23, 2017, by the Virgin Records subsidiary Caroline Records. The album, described by Mohager as the most "honest" album he has created, represents a change of the Chain Gang's sound to a more pop-centric approach, detailing the personal experiences of Mohager and "the feelings of [his] past". The album's sound is the result of Mohager being exposed to new sounds during his time writing songs outside of the Chain Gang, in the years following the successful Daydream Forever. The album was produced by Thom Powers of The Naked and Famous, and has a guest appearance by the band's lead singer, Alisa Xayalith. Powers befriended Mohager after years of touring together, and became involved in the production of Felt early on. The album's release was preceded by live performances by the Chain Gang and the release of three tracks from the album as singles and extended plays in 2016 and 2017. On release, the album was met with positive reviews.

Background

In February 2014, Mohager released Daydream Forever, The Chain Gang of 1974's third album, and the first released by a major label, Warner Bros. Records.[1] The album followed the success of Mohager's song "Sleepwalking", which was used heavily in advertising for the 2013 Rockstar North open world action-adventure video game Grand Theft Auto V and was on its official soundtrack and in-game.[2] The success of the track helped the album, which also included the similarly commercially exposed track "Miko",[3] peak at 36 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, The Chain Gang of 1974's first appearance on a US national record chart.[4] In the years following the release of Daydream Forever, Mohager took up songwriting outside of The Chain Gang of 1974, including writing and recording the extended play Dazed in 2015, as part of Teenage Wrist, a side-project formed with another 3OH!3 touring member, Marshall Gallagher.[5] Mohager also occasionally created remixes of other tracks as The Chain Gang of 1974.[6] From his works outside of creating Chain Gang albums, Mohager used his new-found experience and familiarity with unfamiliar sounds to createsongs for his fourth studio album.[7] Felt represents a more pop-oriented approach to The Chain Gang of 1974, with Mohager having found "pleasure in a chord progression that unites big crowds", during the period before the album's production, justifying that "as long as the song has a bit of an 'X-Factor' to it, I am now no longer afraid of creating more pop-oriented music".[7]

Composition

Mohager described Felt as an exploration of "love, heartbreak, infidelity, addiction, death, [and] family", saying that the album was him openly discussing "the feelings of [his] past".[7] In composing what he felt was the most "honest" album he has created, he deemed Felt to be an album that represented him "as a human being".[8] The second track on Felt, "Wallflowers", was inspired by an idea he had of "two people only being able to be with each other in their dreams. While awake, they are forced to be separate. But in their dreams, they're able to travel to one another and live in a made up world. A fantasy land of sorts."[7] The album's third track, "I Still Wonder", was characterized as "moody and upbeat" with an "'80s vibe" by Brian Leak of Substream Magazine.[9] Mohager said that the song "focuses on infidelity, and how physical desire can slowly transform into love", further exploring the song's themes by writing, "Sometimes you have no control over who you fall in love with. Even when you’ve been living with certain morals for your entire life, someone can come around and change everything. I fell for a girl that I wasn’t supposed to fall for. The guilt will always win, leaving the relationship torn, but with time your mind will always go back and think, “What if?” A lot of the time, due to fear, there is never any closure. This song touches on that."[9]

Recording

Thom Powers of The Naked and Famous co-wrote and produced the album

Felt was recorded with the producer Thom Powers from The Naked and Famous.[10] While Mohager and The Naked and Famous have performed together on occasions since 2012, it took Powers to "[reach] out on a very humble level" to Mohager for a musical relationship between the two to start.[7] Powers' involvement in Felt started in 2015, when Mohager demoed a few songs he had written for a potential new album to him, and afterwards started to write songs together for a year, before going into the studio to record and produce the album itself.[7] Mohager himself deemed Powers to be the "perfect producer for this album", describing him as a "key factor in pushing me to be more confident with my songwriting, even to the point where he encouraged me to start taking vocal lessons and learning more about my craft".[7] The album's fourth track, "Forget", features guest vocals from The Naked and Famous' lead singer Alisa Xayalith.[8]

Promotion

In late 2016, two tracks that eventually appeared on Felt were released as singles and extended plays while the album was still being recorded. "I Still Wonder", the album's third track,[9] and "Slow", the opening track, were released in September and November 2016 respectively, the latter accompanied by a music video which was premiered on Billboard and features Curt Smith of Tears for Fears.[11] The video, comprising a single long take, was described by director Morgan Freed as a "showcase [of Mohager] as what he is: an artist telling a story". Mohager said that the collaboration with Smith was "surreal moment", himself being a follower of Tears for Fears, saying "to see Curt singing one of my songs is something I will never forget".[11][12] After the two songs were premiered, they became setlist staples of The Chain Gang of 1974's live performances in North America as a supporting act for The Naked and Famous' tour for Simple Forms in late 2016,[9] and in winter 2017 for both AFI's tour supporting their eponymous tenth album,[13] and a headlining tour shortly after.[12] Other then-unreleased songs written for the album were also played during their performances, such as "Wallflowers" and "Human".[14] "Wallflowers" was released in March 2017,[10] accompanying the official announcement of Felt, its track listing and release date of June 23, 2017, with pre-orders active for the album's digital and vinyl versions; no compact disc version of the album was released.[7][8] The music video for "Wallflowers" was released in May, presented in a documentary-style format chronicling the love story of an Iranian girl battling cancer, whose family migrated to the United States, and a boy who grew up in Orange County, California. The inspiration for the video came from Mohager's own feeling that "Wallflowers" was "bigger than [him]; a story needed to be told with the song serving solely as its soundtrack", and thus sought to create a video that represents love, care, and "all of us."[15]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]

Matt Collar of AllMusic, in a positive review of the album, marked it as "far more clear-eyed, thematically and musically focused album" than Mohager's previous albums, while commenting that Felt was not a "departure", but rather a "distillation of the most potent elements of the band's sound". Collar noted that the more emotionally-driven style worked in the album's favour, concluding that the record was "a big, joyous, confident album -- but it's a confidence dusted with pathos".[16]

Track listing

All tracks produced by Thom Powers, with Kamtin Mohager as "executive producer".[17]

Felt[18]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Slow"
  • Kamtin Mohager
  • Thom Powers
4:20
2."Wallflowers"
3:56
3."I Still Wonder"
  • Mohager
  • Powers
  • Tirado
4:37
4."Forget" (featuring Alisa Xayalith)
  • Mohager
  • Powers
  • Alisa Xayalith
5:06
5."Looking for Love"
  • Mohager
  • Powers
3:22
6."It Needs You"
  • Mohager
  • Powers
3:28
7."Bliss"
  • Mohager
  • Powers
3:37
8."Human"
  • Mohager
  • Powers
3:49
9."Temptation"
3:56
Total length:36:11

Personnel

Credits adapted from the Felt liner notes.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Gentile, John (January 27, 2014). "The Chain Gang of 1974 Weighs Mortality on 'You' - Song Premiere". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 24, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
    - Wilcox, Daniel (February 26, 2014). "The Chain Gang of 1974 – Daydream Forever Review". 411mania. Archived from the original on June 24, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  2. ↑ Nicholson, Max (October 24, 2013). "GTA 5: The Making of a Video Game Anthem". IGN. j2 Global. Archived from the original on June 24, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
    - "The Chain Gang Of 1974 Launches 'Sleepwalking' Fan Remix Contest". Broadway World. Wisdom Digital Media. December 20, 2013. Archived from the original on June 24, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  3. ↑ Farokhmanesh, Megan (February 1, 2015). "FIFA 14 soundtrack to feature Bloc Party, Nine Inch Nails and more". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  4. ↑ "The Chain Gang of 1974 - Chart history". Billboard. June 24, 2017. Archived from the original on June 24, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  5. ↑ Ezell, Brice (May 15, 2015). "Teenage Wrist - "Summer" (audio) (Premiere) + EP Announcement". PopMatters. Archived from the original on June 27, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  6. ↑ Gracie, Bianca (September 9, 2015). "The Chain Gang Of 1974 Puts His Spin On Mackintosh Braun's "Never Give In": Idolator Premiere". Idolator. Hive Media. Archived from the original on June 27, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ralph, Caitlyn (March 24, 2017). "The Chain Gang Of 1974 are not afraid of massive pop music on new single, album—listen". Alternative Press. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 Khatry, Sudipti (March 26, 2017). "The Chain Gang of 1974 Announces New Album Felt for June 2017 Release". mxdwn. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Leak, Brian (September 8, 2016). "PREMIERE: The Chain Gang Of 1974 returns with "I Still Wonder"". Substream Magazine. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  10. 1 2 Marotta, Michael (March 24, 2017). "New Sounds: The Chain Gang of 1974 go huge on ambitious new single 'Wallflowers'". Vanyaland. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  11. 1 2 Redfearn, Dominique (November 18, 2016). "Chain Gang of 1974's One-Take 'Slow' Video Includes Tears for Fears Cameo: Exclusive Premiere". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  12. 1 2 Lothspeich, Dustin (February 3, 2017). "The Chain Gang of 1974's Real Genius". KNSD San Diego. National Broadcasting Company. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  13. ↑ Dore, Stephanie (February 1, 2017). "AFI Feed The Frenzy Live In Seattle". Seattle Music Insider. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  14. ↑ "The Chain Gang of 1974 Setlist at Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, USA". Setlist.fm. November 14, 2016. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
    - "The Chain Gang of 1974 Setlist at The Fox Theater, Oakland, CA, USA". Setlist.fm. January 21, 2017. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
    - "The Chain Gang of 1974 Setlist at Blueberry Hill, St. Louis, MO, USA". Setlist.fm. February 6, 2017. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  15. ↑ "You've Got To Hear This! The Chain Gang of 1974 premieres unique docu-video for "Wallflowers"". Volume. Volume Magazine & Creative Blog. May 17, 2017. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
    - Frankel, Jillian (May 17, 2017). "Watch The Chain Gang of 1974's New Docu-Video for 'Wallflowers'". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  16. 1 2 Collar, Matt (June 23, 2017). "Felt - The Chain Gang of 1974". AllMusic. All Media Network, LLC. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  17. 1 2 Felt (liner notes). Caroline Records. 2017.
  18. ↑ "Felt by The Chain Gang of 1974 on Apple Music". Apple Music US. Apple, Inc. June 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.


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