Review: Foals - Total Life Forever

Our Foals are All Grown Up.

From the first note of the track one, to the last of track eleven, you would not be a fool for thinking Foals are an entirely different band. Their debut "Antidotes" propelled them to indie fame as htey graced the cover of the NME. With Total Life Forever, we are served with a drastic and important departure from their first effort. 

The change is emotion and it is raw. In 2008 we filed foals under 'fun listen', 'party music' 'hedonist anthems'. But with TLF the new found sense of sensitivity and rawness exude from bar to bar. Blue Blood is a casing point: it has the most beautifully simplistic intro that exemplifies the increased delicacy in Yannis Phillipakis’ voice. forty seconds in there is a hint (just a hint) of Foals of the past – syncopation, staccato guitars and all. But,  where their first effort was entirely robotic, rigid and kinetic, TLF is sentimental, moving and fragile.

Foals have added another aspect to their game to support their new found affection. Lyrics are undoubtedly more important completing their fresh dynamic. Antidotes had words, yes, but words without depth. Writing a song in French about Andy Roddick’s serve did fit with the two-dimensional aesthetic of the first album with instrument and voice as focal points. But some prefer a listen with more feeling so a third dimension is needed: meaning. Yannis explores “identity, heartbreak, loss and Mike Tyson” to quote the man himself and while the sporting reference remains, the song in question ‘Black Gold’ permeates the general inspiration of the song by examining feelings of nostalgia and identity “they buried the gold, your ancestry’s sold and left”. 

For ardent “Antidotes” fans, this album may take a while to get used to. Some may write this album off as a mundane effort; Foals have always been a band to get you in the mood for reckless fun and frolics. But they are quickly becoming a band to make you think. The groove-funk style is still there "Miami" shows the 'fun' side of Foals, but what we are witnessing is a band exploring the conceptual. There is no question that Foals can play instruments but this is not what makes a band. The best have the ability to take their talent and use it to reflect the abstract in ways that discussion or debate cannot. Music is not just in itself but for itself and Foals have successfully intertwined their talent and emotion showing their collective progression. Total Life Forever surpasses their first jab creating an album that is cohesive, balanced and beautiful. One of the best albums of the year so far!!

Listen to: Alabaster, Blue Blood, What Remains, Spanish Sahara, This Orient, Black Gold



8.5/10