English indie rock group Foals are back with another full-length album, What Went Down, and I can easily say some good things went down musically on this record.
Rarely am I able to listen to an album from start to finish without skipping a handful of obligatory “filler” tracks, but that was not the case with Foals’ latest release. This one is worth checking out.
On What Went Down, it feels as though Foals have taken their experiences from past albums and incorporated the best elements from some of their older, standout tracks. The catchy palm-muted guitar hooks from songs like “My Number” off of 2013’s Holy Fire make a reappearance on “Birch Tree,” a pop-inspired indie-rock tune. “Birch Tree” wasn’t a single, yet it easily could have been.
The lead single and album opener, “What Went Down,” packs a heavy punch. It’s a great song to start the album off, setting the stage for some of the darker, quieter, more relaxed songs like “London Thunder” to balance it out. Not that there really needs to be a balance between heavy and soft songs here, but it definitely works.
Even during the softer moments on the album, a fitting, well-produced drum beat
kicks in to move the song along at an appropriate pace. This is most evident in “A Knife In The Ocean,” which begins with a short echo-reverb guitar intro. Once the drums hit, the song progresses to a chorus which you could mistake for being recorded in an arena. It’s the last song, and a great way to encapsulate the best elements of previous tracks on the album.
Elements from the album opener, from the energetic, reverb-heavy vocals of Foals’ singer Yannis Philippakis, to the distorted and fuzzy guitar sounds that play a huge part in the title track, are consistent throughout the album, even on some of the lighter tracks.
The album doesn’t experiment or stray too far from the sounds of Foals’ past album Holy Fire, but that surprisingly doesn’t detract much. What Went Down sounds familiar, yet I never really found myself bored listening from start to finish. It’s a solid, well-produced album that I can easily recommend to indie-rock listeners. Definitely one of my favourite albums of 2015 so far.
Favourite Songs: What Went Down, Mountain At My Gates, Birch Tree, A Knife In The Ocean, London Thunder, Night Swimmers
Least Favourite Songs: Give it All, Albatross
