Review: Foals - Spanish Sahara

It’s been two years since foals released their début 'Antidotes'. A quirky, kinetic album that included the club hits ‘Balloons’ and ‘Cassius’, they were dubbed the band that could bring math-rock out of the undergrowth. So upon waiting for Foals' latest release I expected much of the same jolty guitars and syncopated sharp rhythms that made the debut good but more importantly highlighted greater potential of a band still finding it’s feet.

My expectations were wrong. There are no jolty guitars or syncopated sharp rhythms on this song, only dulcet tones, gentle yet grizzly vocals and an atmospheric presence that features throughout the entirety of the song. This is not Foals, or at least not the Foals we knew. This song is not a dance floor filler that makes you want to jerk and jolt. It is auditory aesthetic beauty for which appreciation would be shown just by lending you ears. From the tentative, crawling introduction to the explosive ending which sees the clattered collaborative musicianship that we are used to with Foals; the song is a narrative, telling a story through a duality of sound, much like a single loop of the ‘quiet LOUD’ Pixies formation but less brazen and lyrics which allude to regret, fear and emotional progression with words like ‘forget the horror here, leave it all down here’.

The ambience and vocals create a truly beautiful, honest and reflective song which can only help but conjure an emotional response from the listener. A track only released for promotion suggests greater things to come from this band and an album that will surpass the notable yet half-baked effort of its predecessor.

5/5

Download Foals - Spanish Sahara



Transgressive Official Release: May 3rd
Found on: Total Life Forever, Released May 10th 2010