ANYBODY who tapped into Foals purely on the basis of the indie-dance of their debut album Antidotes is going to be a bit disappointed by the Oxford outfit’s follow-up.
The frantic guitars are gone, replaced by a lush, sweeping approach redolent of Unforgettable Fire-era U2 and Talking Heads. And it suits them better, with the kinetic Blue Blood and Miami and the lavish, intoxicating Spanish Sahara setting out Total Life Forever’s scope.
Chiming lead single This Orient apart, there isn’t much in the way of conventional songwriting, and at times Total Life Forever tends to veer all over the place, an approach which sees the album’s tail-end tail off into Coldplay-style whimsy as the band struggle to keep their grand design and raft of wide-reaching ideas in check.
But it’s the sound of a band being true to themselves and concentrating on the tunes rather than taking the easy path and sticking to their original, more accessible direction for the sake of mass appeal.
It might be a bit of a mess, but it’s an intelligent mess.
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