Artist Feature & Review: The Foreign Exchange ~ Authenticity

The Grammy Award nominated group, The Foreign Exchange…I love saying that! It’s hard to believe that 2 years ago, my friends of The Foreign Exchange family released their last album, Leave It All Behind in 2008…mainly because I still have it in rotation as if it came out yesterday. So many great things have happened for them since then: music video releases, a tour that included a show in my beloved city, Toronto…their only non-US stop and of course, their single Daykeeper was nominated for a Grammy.


The Foreign Exchange Fam (L-R): Chris (guitar), Biscuit (drums), Nicolay, Darien Brockington, Yahzarah, Aimee Flint (Director of Operations), Phonte, Zo!, Kush (bass)

Authenticity, the group’s 3rd album was released last week and was highly anticipated. It quickly became #1 on iTunes and Amazon in R&B downloads. I was almost nervous to listen to the album once I bought it, thinking I may be let down after looking forward to it for so long…clearly, I should’ve known better.

01. The Last Fall
02. Authenticity
03. Eyes To The Sky
04. All Roads
05. Fight For Love
06. Maybe She'll Dream Of Me
07. Don't Wait
08. Make Me A Fool
09. Everything Must Go
10. Laughing At Your Plans
11. This City Ain't The Same Without You

The first track, The Last Fall is probably my most favorite track on the album. It starts off TFE’s signature sound…the sound fans would know that starts off every album. Gosh, I’m sitting here listening to the song, finding ways to describe this song to you but I’m having trouble. The Last Fall is pretty much EVERYTHING to me right now. Nicolay's production, Phonte’s vocals & the lyrics and the harmonization is just…for lack of a better word, WOW. On my first listen of Authenticity, my jaw dropped when the beat dropped in The Last Fall and I just knew this album had me. The vibe of Authenticity is darker than what they have put out before but the change is amazing and their sound has evolved greatly since they released their debut album, Connected in 2004.

While the album as a whole is an amazing piece of work, my other favorite tracks Don’t Wait featuring long time TFE collaborator Darien Brockington and Make Me A Fool which features Soul Train Music award nominee, Jesse Boykins III and rapper, Median.

For all that know me or follow me via this blog, you know how much I love and support The Foreign Exchange family. Hearing this album made me feel like a proud momma! Lol! I’ve been a fan for a long time and it’s been amazing to see the growth in their music and their fan base over the years. The way Nicolay and Phonte built their music relationship over the internet, recorded Connected without having even seeing each other in person and to see what The Foreign Exchange brand has become now is something really special in my eyes. It’s not hard to see that The Foreign Exchange will continue onto great things and hopefully, one day soon they will be known as the Grammy Award WINNING, The Foreign Exchange! ;-)

The same week The Foreign Exchange dropped Authenticity, they released a 3 part short film by Sandrine Orabona & Anke Thommen called Thank You For Listening which gives in depth look into The Foreign Exchange. I thought I'd share it here...ENJOY!
(Friendly Reminder: Don't forget to pause on the mp3 player on the top right before pressing play!)