Strong, intense and bold, lead vocalist Jason Teach of the new alternative rock group Foam bellows out honest and down to earth lyrics. The young group from Hagerstown, Md. writes songs about stinging passions and burning love pains. On its debut album, Big Windshield, Little Mirror (Sony Music), it shows it’s tired of being tactful.

The first song off its first album, “Head Not Love,” says, “Now and again, want your head not your love/I thought I had a chance or of the very least a dance/Drunk I feel enhanced, forget about romance.” Foam is remarkable because even though it may not say the words a woman wants to hear, it doesn’t hesitate to come out and say what is really on its mind.

Though bitter at some points, Foam does demonstrate insightfully sensitive moments on its album. In “Hands of You,” songwriters Scott Fisher (lead guitarist) and Teach psychoanalyze the thoughts of others. “You look of fear/It’s in your very eyes/This is where love begins/Begins to heal us all/But to heal you must make yourself aware.”

When listeners first heard the track “Rollercoaster” premier on the radio, many thought they were hearing a new song from by the already-famous group, Live. When Foam began to record for Sony Music in 1996, the lead guitarist of Live, Chad Taylor, agreed to produce its first demos. With instruction from Taylor, Foam has incorporated the muscular bass lines, distorted electric guitar chords and lead vocal styles of Live into its own music.

What makes Foam complete is lead singer Teach, who is soft-spoken at first, but passionately intense when he grabs hold of the microphone. Sony Music describes Teach as, “a charismatic performer and a forceful communicator of the music’s complex emotions.”

It is the distinct combination of the four members that elevates Foam to a new musical level. Although it has suffered a temporary breakup or two, Foam has persevered – and now is on its way to success.