*The Following Press Release Was Issued By FANATIC*
| July 9th, 2021 | Knoxville, TN The Enigmatic Foe nods to XTC, Empire of The Sun on latest LP feat. Frank Lenz (Richard Swift, Pedro The Lion), Josh Dooley (Starflyer 59, Fine China.) The Big Takeover says “The Original Plan” (out July 30th) “Mixes Church-like shoegaze, Kitchens of Distinction dreampop, The Go-Betweens indie pop.” +++ |
| Jared Colinger of The Enigmatic Foe as photographed by Stacy Littleton |
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| Check out “The Suffering Art,” the latest single from the upcoming The Original Plan by The Enigmatic Foe at V13 and then hustle over to Ghettoblaszter Magazine to hear the two non-album bonus tracks “Let’s Be Sad,” and “Crisis (Home Demo)” that complete “The Suffering Art” EP. Click the link below to listen at your favorite corporate entity. Jared Colinger of The Enigmatic Foe tells us about “The Suffering Art,”explaining, “Sometimes, we go to great lengths to be miserable and stay miserable. I once heard a story about a musician who purposely created strife with their spouse to have song fodder. I certainly thrive on creating songs out of misery. Anything else outside that topic seems a novelty.” About “Let’s Be Sad,” he says, “For the longest time, I only knew that darkness and used those brutal emotions to process what I was feeling through song” and adds about “Crisis (Home Demo),” “This was one of the four songs I wrote in 2018 for MAP, my guitarist Josh Dooley’s band. Josh gave me an instrumental, which I had to navigate and put words to. My demo was fragile and fearful. Lyrically, I was at the end of my rope with my job. How can you put on a brave face when your world is crumbling from within?” [STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/TheEnigmaticFoe-TheSufferingArt +++ The Enigmatic Foe The Original Plan July 30th, 2021 (S/R) |
| Track Listing: 01. Simulacrum 02. The Kids Are Alright (STREAM) 03. Young Man’s Game 04. Ms. Fortune and Her Mate 05. The Suffering Art (STREAM) 06. Too Much Fun 07. It’s Not Who You Are 08. That Would Be Fun 09. Ninety-Nine Percent 10. Come and Go (STREAM) 11. Pavlovian Cement 12. Darkness and Light 13. Two Strong Words 14. Genesis |
| Pre-order the deluxe double vinyl version of The Enigmatic Foe’s upcoming album The Original Plan at Bandcamp now! Pressed on standard 160gm black vinyl with a gatefold jacket at 45RPM. Includes download card. |
| Listen to Jared Colinger of The Enigmatic Foe in conversation with his collaborators in this podcast series. Following up two episodes with drummer, Frank Lenz (Richard Swift, Everest, Pedro The Lion, Headphones) is the latest three-episode set with guitarist, Josh Dooley. Colinger comments, “For those who aren’t familiar with him, Josh is one of my all-time favorite guitar players. His distinctive style can be heard with his band MAP, or when he’s playing with Starflyer 59, Fine China, Pony Express and the list goes on. We spoke for almost two hours about music, his gear, his approach to the guitar, and you get a real behind the scenes look at the production of The Original Plan.” Other topics covered, according to Colinger, include “songwriting, music theory, the Devil’s triad, recording during the pandemic, the 1980s influences on The Original Plan, the beauty of failure, guitar riffs/tone, Josh’s favorite song on the album, Eric Joyner’s album art, and creating art through trauma.” [STREAM]: https://soundcloud.com/fanaticpro/sets/the-enigmatic-foe-the-original-plan-podcast-feat-josh-dooley +++ The Enigmatic Foe | About |
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| The Enigmatic Foe | About The Enigmatic Foe is the work of Knoxville-based songwriter and musician, Jared Colinger. The tunes on his upcoming new album The Original Plan (July 30th) often remind of a melancholy Andy Partridge of XTC, which is, frankly, a quality we all need to hear about in music more often. Essentially, Colinger’s pop tunes are wrapped in just enough self-awareness to be relatable and just enough sadness to land. Back to operating The Enigmatic Foe as a solo project, Colinger is once again the Mayor of his own Simpleton (XTC!), although there are a few citizens about including Frank Lenz (Headphones, Richard Swift) on Drums and Josh Dooley (Map, Fine China) on Electric Guitar. The Original Plan was mixed and mastered at Swift’s studio National Freedom by Chris Colbert. With Colinger alone at the helm again, he is also now in full command of articulating those all-too-common solitary feelings of self-doubt and inauthenticity that permeate music that sticks like this. “I’m afraid they can see right through me / That I’m just a facsimile,” he bravely sings on album opener “Simulacrum,” a cathartic and personal song written shortly after Colinger’s father passed, where he sings about the possibility of being an inferior representation of his Dad. The song leads right into what could be a meta address of the “Simulacrum” concept by lifting a song title from The Who on Colinger’s original tune “The Kids Are Alright,” the album’s first single. Far from a facsimile, however, the song shows off just how singular Colinger’s voice and music actually are. Clearly, the confinement of working within his newly re-solo status suits Colinger well. Or, maybe he’s just a great actor? “I’m not sure what possessed me to write from this perspective,” he says of “The Kids Are Alright.” “I have no personal experience with being divorced or having kids. I may have written it out of fear!” RIYL obsessives will also hear shades of Squeeze, Depeche Mode and The Smiths on Colinger’s expansive 14-cut The Original Plan. Contemporaries such as Empire of The Sun, Tahiti 80, and Starflyer 59 (who Colinger has actually collaborated with previously) also ring bells. The Original Plan also delves into a variety of less expected sounds, with “Pavlovian Cement” and it’s Latin Jazz-leaning dueling saxophones, the country shuffle of “Ninety-Nine Percent” and a 6/8 waltz courtesy of “It’s Not Who You Are.” The overall concepts of The Original Plan address the idea that we often (or maybe never?) end up where we originally set out to get to. Colinger’s route has certainly been circuitous to the max. Over 15-plus years of releasing music, in what venerable rock magazine The Big Takeover calls “a classic evolvement narrative” (also noting that Colinger’s guitars twinkle “like better ‘70s FM rock,” natch), Colinger has mastered the simplicity of reaching for and writing about what’s right there within. He makes this task that so many writers never manage to achieve look, well… simple. The Original Plan by The Enigmatic Foe is scheduled for release digitally on July 30th and as a deluxe two-LP vinyl set. +++ The Enigmatic Foe | Links |
