Holy moly, Foals.
The 2014 Splendour headliners have just dropped a brand new track and, well, shit. Premiered on Annie Mac’s BBC Radio 1 show, the UK band haven’t just raised the bar, they’ve obliterated it.
I’m not sure if words can really do this one justice, so I’m going to sit here and wait patiently for four minutes while you listen to it. Hell, I’m probably listening to it again right now:
We like it. A lot.
Mountain At My Gates is the second new track in as many months, and follows on from the blisteringly powerful What Went Down. Less heavy but no less powerful, it’s already showing signs of serious diversity and depth throughout their new album.
The singles will be featured on their upcoming album, also titled What Went Down. Reportedly (and awesomely) inspired by “130 bottles of red wine,” the ten track album is set to drop on August 28. It is the first new music we’ve heard since 2013’s blazing Holy Fire.
Frontman Yannis Philippakis has said of the new album, “I wanted to tap into my inner madman and feel like I was channeling some sort of fevered creature.” Here I was thinking that Foals sounded pretty mad all along, so to say I’m excited about hearing the new record is a serious understatement.
Interestingly, the two singles are the respective first and second tracks off the album. It’s as though the band are telling a story, and they’re sharing the journey one chapter at a time. Judging by the intensity and sheer power that we can hear in both singles, it’s looking to be one goddamn riveting story.
If you want a little more while waiting impatiently for August 28, check out the tantalising album trailer here:
Pre-order What Went Down here.
Track listing:
What Went Down
Mountain At My Gates
Birch Tree
Give It All
Albatross
Snake Oil
Night Swimmers
London Thunder
Lonely Hunter
A Knife In The Ocean
Foals. My god, Foals are a fucking good band. One of the best live acts we have EVER seen (A Splendour 2014 highlight for sure), we were extremely excited by the recent news that a brand new album is on its way.
The press release describes Foals as “Britain’s most important guitar band,” and while I usually hate quoting press releases, I really do agree with the sentiment.
Foals make rock music that nobody else is making. Channelling bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Fugazi or Iggy Pop, they’ve taken a genre, flipped it on it’s head and come out the other end, creating an invigorating, exciting and entirely fresh sound. Live on stage? PHWOAR. No words to describe that one.
Anyway, this is What Went Down. It’s just come out, and it’s got a fresh new video clip too. Frantic, ferocious, progressive and heavy, it’s only getting us more and more excited for their upcoming album. Listen here:
The forthcoming album shares the name of this single – which is also the first track. The album was produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence & The Machine), who ventured with the band to the South of France, where they reportedly recorded in a “rural 19th-century mill.” I’m not exactly sure what to picture there.
On the themes of cultural identity, anxiety, heartbreak and more, frontman Yannis Philippakis explains; “I wanted to tap into my inner madman and feel like I was channelling some sort of fevered creature”.
Track listing:
What Went Down
Mountain At My Gates
Birch Tree
Give It All
Albatross
Snake Oil
Night Swimmers
London Thunder
Lonely Hunter
A Knife In The Ocean
What Went Down comes out on August 28, but you can pre-order it right now, right here. It follows on from their mammoth 2013 release Holy Fire.
UK math rock superheros Foals are just about one of my favourite bands ever, which isn’t a term I throw around easily. So when they announced last week that their fourth studio album is on it’s way, it was hard to contain my elation.
Titled What Went Down, the 10 track LP will drop August 28, and from the looks of things, could well be their best yet. Recorded in a rural 19th century mill in the South of France with James Ford, who’s resume includes works with Arctic Monkeys and Florence + The Machine, the end results are said to be extreme and intense.
Frontman Yannis Philippakis, no stranger to harrowing songs that give you chills down your spine and make you want to burst into tears (or is that just me?), said of his lyricism for the new album that, “I wanted to tap into my inner madman and feel like I was channeling some sort of fevered creature.” If you’re a Foals fan, you are probably a little apprehensive as to just how much Philippakis is tapping into his inner madman, as his previous works would indicate that madman doesn’t require much tapping into at all. I find myself asking what sort of heathen has been unleashed here…
Working with themes such as cultural identity, generational anxiety, cynicism, pessimism and heartbreak, the accompanying press release itself said of What Went Down that “the record touches upon the depths of madness whilst also exhibiting some of the most beautiful pop songs the band have ever written.”
You can pour over the album’s teaser trailer below, but kiss goodbye any sort of patient waiting after watching it. It’s only made me angry that August is so far away:
What Went Down tracklisting:
What Went Down
Mountain At My Gates
Birch Tree
Give It All
Albatross
Snake Oil
Night Swimmers
London Thunder
Lonely Hunter
A Knife In The Ocean
British band Foals’ hew album will be a “more extreme” affair, according to lead singer Yannis Phillippakis. We’re yet to hear music from the upcoming album, a follow-up to 2013’s acclaimed Holy Fire (which brought us the groovy My Number,) but the singer revealed a few things in a recent interview with Q Magazine; “We felt that the spread on Holy Fire was good but on this we wanted to push it out even further, so the extremes were further apart. The heavier songs are heavier, the poppy songs are poppier and weirder.”
Guitarist Jimmy Smith went on to speak about their time working in the south of France, with producer James Ford. “We drank about 130 bottles of this red wine called Ardèche,” he says, “[but] I don’t think there was a point where we were all drunk.”
Last October, the band posted a photo on Instagram of a guitar and keyboard with the caption “It starts…”. Now, almost eight months and 91 litres of wine later, they’re finally closer to completing the album.
While Holy Fire saw the band travel to a slew of remote and “ludicrous” recording locations including Gothenburg, Sweden, the new material has been recorded in the safety of their London studios.
Foals last visited Australia almost a year ago, in a last-minute headlining slot at Splendour In The Grass (filling in for late cancellation Two Door Cinema Club.) They’re set for a lineup of European festival gigs later this year, where they’ll no doubt be previewing tracks from their upcoming album.