Release Date June 12th, 2026
Format LP/Digital
Genre Post Metal
Origin USA
Foreign Film emerged in Sacramento in 2023 as a separate outlet for Jeff Irwin, guitarist and principal songwriter of Will Haven. The name reaches back to a song on Will Haven’s 1997 debut, "El Diablo", although the music here leaves metallic hardcore behind and heads toward post metal, dream pop, space rock, and cinematic ambience. Irwin brought in fellow Will Haven members Mitch Wheeler, Sean Bivins, and Adrien Contreras, then expanded the lineup with Rylan Kerr, Robin Florkin, and Tami Taracena. That combination gives Foreign Film a wider palette than a side project built around one musician and a pile of demos. Three guitars, bass, drums, piano, keyboards, lead vocals, and backing vocals form a broad ensemble, with the parts arranged as layers, not competing displays.
The influences are easy to trace, Pink Floyd in the patient movement, Mew and Hum in the melodic haze, The Cure in the darker romantic shade, and groups such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Rós, Russian Circles, This Will Destroy You, and Failure in the extended atmosphere. Those references describe the territory, not the final result. Foreign Film has a softer profile than Will Haven and far less interest in physical confrontation. Its music is built around suspended tension, glowing guitar lines, restrained percussion, and vocals placed inside the surrounding texture. As a debut, "A Love Letter" presents a fully assembled group, not a loose experiment from musicians passing time between main projects. The Sacramento connection matters, since the album retains the discipline and unease associated with Irwin’s heavier work, and then redirect those traits into spacious, melodic forms.
"A Love Letter" contains ten songs and runs for 42 minutes, tracked during a year of sessions at J Rigged Studios in Sacramento. Weston Ray and Robert Kerr handled production and engineering, and Michael Cobra supplied the artwork. The production gives the album depth without turning every swell into an oversized event. Guitars rise in gradual layers, keyboards add a cold glow, bass anchors the lower register, and the drums stay measured until the music needs a larger pulse. The vocals are subdued and inward, often sitting among the instruments without dominating them. The album’s best passages arrive when the melodic lines remain simple and the arrangement grows around them. "Wish", "Somnolence", "Black Sky", and "Love Letter" outline the range of the approach without turning the album into disconnected exercises.
Foreign Film can move from calm, almost floating passages into heavier waves without making the transitions obvious or theatrical. There is patience here, and most of the material justifies it. Several songs share a similar tempo and emotional register, which blurs their individual outlines during the middle stretch. A few sections stay fixed on one idea too long, and some songs could lose a minute without damage. The vocal delivery also remains within a narrow register, strengthening the album’s unity while reducing surprise across ten songs. These limits keep "A Love Letter" below the top tier. They do not erase the quality of the writing or the care in the arrangements.
The album is immersive, melodic, and disciplined, with production that leaves small details audible. The post metal tag covers only part of the picture. Dream pop shimmer, ambient rock, gothic shade, and restrained heaviness occupy equal ground, making the album broader than its genre label suggests. Foreign Film has made a debut with emotional substance, a coherent sonic character, and enough variation to hold interest across its full length. The result is somber, often striking, and thoughtfully arranged, with stretches of sameness limiting its reach.
|7.8
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