House Of Foals

Before you go and throw rotten tomatoes at Friendly Fires, think about it. They are right. It’s boring by now. Every band that is taking out their sophomore album seems to be taking some new musical path and doing it amazingly well. So, eventually, you gotta hand it to Friendly Fires. It’s predictable and we can’t do what the rest of the world is doing. Naturally, Foals are just as predictable. Sure, they gave us some hints such as talk about the new sound being ‘tropical-prog’. Klaxons are really jealous of this term by now.

It sounds crazy, I know, this tropical-prog or whatever and Total Life Forever is just as insane. It has sneaky progressive chords spread out through every song and coy build-ups (like the so-much-talked-about Spanish Sahara) that make you think Foals are going down a path where denying your past is a must. It might be no mistake to say the urgency of the debut is replaced by frail keyboards and isolated burst of energy that make that music so much more of an intimate experience.

This time round, tribal drums take to place of 2+2=4 rhythms in order to fill the speakers and make perfect sing-alongs. No longer restricted by the conventions (of math-rock, of electronic sounds) hidden in the seemingly free-spirit of Antidotes, the new songs are here (more that anything else) for the sheer fun and desire to see where sonic experimentation will take you. Sure, at times they could be in the same area of lo-fi as The XX (Black Gold strikes a chord), but it is clear Foals love sharp edges more than the London trio.

And like the songs off both albums flow into one another, Total Life Forever is just the natural follow-up to Antidotes (after all, the likes Electric Bloom and Heavy Water are the predecessors of about anything on Total Life Forever). The funky bass lines and drumming elements that made Foals’ studio be named Supreme House Of Mathematics are still there, rest assured. But instead of ‘dance math-rock’, this album could be defined as evolution and confidence you can create something great even when you leave your safety zone. And also trust the people who heard your music first time round will understand you need to grow and can’t stay in one place forever.