Description
Fiction Family – Fiction Family – Compact Disc
Fiction Family’s self-titled album Fiction Family is a one-off collaboration that feels unusually “real” for a side project: it’s Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek’s Sean Watkins stepping away from their main bands to make a focused, song-first record together. It was released on January 20, 2009 via ATO Records (with additional label credits often listed as Credential Recordings and lowercase people) and was recorded across 2006–2007.
What makes the album interesting is how it was written and assembled. Foreman and Watkins began collaborating around 2005 while both of their primary bands were frequently on the road; they’d write in fragments whenever they could, gradually piecing songs together from distance rather than doing a single “lock in the studio” writing period. The project even had an earlier identity: they initially performed under the name The Real SeanJon, and at one point the record was tentatively titled Betrayal before the Fiction Family name stuck.
Fiction Family sits in acoustic / folk-pop / roots rock territory, but it’s not a stripped, bare demo-style album—it’s carefully arranged while still feeling intimate. Foreman and Watkins alternate lead vocals and blend their voices frequently, and the record’s sound leans on acoustic guitars, keys, and organic rhythm parts rather than the full-band identities you’d associate with Switchfoot or Nickel Creek. A North Carolina public radio feature from the release period notes that the two of them played all the instruments heard on the album (including guitar and keyboards, plus rhythm parts like drums/organ), which helps explain why it feels so cohesive despite being made between touring schedules.
The tracklist is 12 songs and runs 39:42, and it’s built like a front-to-back album rather than a singles dump. It opens with “When She’s Near,” the project’s first single (released January 12, 2009)—a compact, melodic statement of the duo’s “two voices, one song” approach—and then settles into a run of reflective, hooky mid-tempo material (“Out of Order,” “Not Sure,” “Betrayal,” “War in My Blood,” “Closer Than You Think,” “Please Don’t Call It Love”), finishing with “Look for Me Baby.”
Track Listing
When She’s Near
Out Of Order
Not Sure
Betrayal
Elements Combined
War In My Blood
Throw It Away
Closer Than You Think
Please Don’t Call It Love
Mostly
We Ride
Look For Me Baby
