Fosh drops first full-length album, “Up With The Sun”

NEPA band, Fosh premieres their first full-length album, “Up With The Sun” Friday, April 5. The band consists of three brothers who wrote the album while living together before parting ways for college.

“Up With The Sun” is a high energy, wide-ranging alternative rock / emo pop punk collection including tracks written over the past three to four years, as well as newly made songs. The album showcases inviting catchy melodies, lead guitar riffs, and prominent backing vocals (with Nico, Luca, and Dante Schwartz all singing together).

“Several of these songs were some of the first songs we ever wrote, before we even seriously considered the idea of recording and releasing music,” said Luca Schwartz.

The Weekender spoke with Fosh back in October 2023 for our Locals Only series with 979X’s show, now they’re dropping that debut album they were working on. The 11-song release was recorded at JL Studios in Olyphant.

Fosh says this record is a product of creative work from everyone in the band, with each member taking on different roles. They penned much of this album while still living together at home, before Nico and Luca left for college, so they experienced songwriting unlike any other band.

“Not only does it have a certain sentimental element, but I also feel that living together helped the writing process in a unique way; it was extremely collaborative, and we could work on songs together at any time we wanted,” said Luca.

These siblings aren’t much for bickering — they appreciate their rare musical bond and always enjoy writing together. Through this closeness, the brothers collaborate on music in a unique way with Fosh.

“You’d expect us not to get along but we’re fully rooting for each other. It’s fully supportive at all times,” Luca assured us.

Even though they no longer live together, they’re finding new methods to continue making music as a band. Their connection is still just as strong, so even though distance is an adjustment — it’s not slowing Fosh down.

Fosh is feeling bolder and more sure of themselves in the studio. After the band cut their teeth on their first EP in 2022, they took a more confident approach with “Up With The Sun.” The new album utilizes heavier guitars, more emotion, and a more solidified sound.

“When we recorded the EP, we didn’t know what we were doing or what to expect, but we learned so much through that experience,” said Luca.

The progression of their sound can especially be heard on new songs “Somewhere Tonight”, “Winter,” “At The Door,” and the title track, “Up With The Sun.” Fosh believes in tastefully varying their sound, so they also mixed in a few more mellow songs including “Sundown Streets,” “Flower,” and “Staring in the Dark.”

Luca’s personal favorite track is “Winter,” the single that they already put out — and it was the perfect snowy, edgy song to lead up to the spring drop. Coming in a close second for Luca is “Sundown Streets,” one of Nico’s most personal songs, which provides a break from the heavy with more pretty, acoustic influences.

“When you change up your sound for a song, it can make more sense,” said Luca.

Each member of the band has very similar music tastes but, when writing music, they gravitate towards slightly different influences. This creates a lovely diversity in the lyrics and harmony in the music.

“Two of our favorite bands, International Pete and If Kansas Had Trees inspire us constantly, and this album would not exist without these two bands,” added Luca. “These two bands showed us that writing and releasing legitimate music is possible.”

International Pete was the previous generation’s family band (fun fact: their drummer on most of the album was the bassist), and If Kansas Had Trees is made up of their childhood, lifelong best friends. They’re also inspired by the music scene in NEPA.

“We are so grateful to be a part of it. We are always inspired by the bigger acts from here such as Title Fight, Tigers Jaw, The Menzingers, One Step Closer and more local ones as Esta Coda, University Drive, James Barrett, Pucker Up, and more,” said Luca.

Each member of the band has very similar music tastes but, when writing music, they gravitate towards slightly different influences. This creates a lovely diversity in the lyrics and harmony in the music.

“Two of our favorite bands, International Pete and If Kansas Had Trees inspire us constantly, and this album would not exist without these two bands,” added Luca. “These two bands showed us that writing and releasing legitimate music is possible.”

International Pete was the previous generation’s family band (fun fact: their drummer on most of the album was the bassist), and If Kansas Had Trees is made up of their childhood, lifelong best friends. They’re also inspired by the music scene in NEPA.

“We are so grateful to be a part of it. We are always inspired by the bigger acts from here such as Title Fight, Tigers Jaw, The Menzingers, One Step Closer and more local ones as Esta Coda, University Drive, James Barrett, Pucker Up, and more,” said Luca.

Also — Fosh already has five more songs done and ready for a future mini-EP. When creating the album, they recorded 16 songs but decided that would be too long, so they saved the extras for a future release with a more “chill vibe.”

Being together playing and writing music as brothers all these years, they’re ahead of themselves with a ton of material built up over time. They’ve already written six or seven new songs for a sophomore album as well.

“For us, Up With The Sun is just the very beginning of our plans as a band, and we will continue releasing music for many years to come. We are very proud of this album, and we are excited to finally get to share it with the world,” said Luca.

Following the release on April 5, Fosh is already set to play seven shows across four weekends to promote the album. They’ll play Spacement Arts in Wilkes-Barre on April 13 for Esta Coda’s “Ten Years of Kindness” show.

“Up With The Sun,” is now available for listening on all streaming platforms. Follow along with them on social media to see where you can hear Fosh perform original songs from their debut record live.