Elemental force of Foals
Foals
Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2 Warner
WHEN the last album from indiepop art rockers Foals ended, things sounded grim. There were dead foxes and burning hedges and rain. Frontman Yannis Philippakis was on his knees.
Things seem a little more hopeful on their new album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2 , which comes out seven months after the first part. Taken together, these batch of songs prove Foals to be at the top of their game, making complex, brilliant music.
Part 1 came out in March, giving us the super tracks Exits, In Degrees and On The Luna . If that album was often new wave-y and computer-assisted, the second part is much harder and guitar-driven, with the bombastic, hyper-masculine Black Bull almost veering into thrash.
The band this time explores elements in nature – fire, earth, sea and sky. The 10-track album kicks
off with the instrumental Red Desert (who else could get away with starting a CD with an instrumental?) and then moves into The Runner, one of the band’s best and an exhortation to keep fighting. Philippakis is no longer on his knees.
In fact, there’s defiance built into the second part. “I will not be undone,” Philippakis sings in Like Lightning . And on 10,000 Feet, he vows to “burn all the liars.” There are thematic connections between the two album parts – crows and the surf echo throughout – but they scratch different musical itches.
It gets progressively proggy by the end, eventually ending with the bold, spacey and cinematic Neptune, which clocks in at more than 10 minutes. (Who else is doing 10-minute songs?)
“It’s time to go,” Philippakis sings and his band seems to have found a way out of this existential horror, an escape they sought in Exit from Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1. The snag? It may be in outer space, judging from the title. To which we say: Take us with you.
JAMES Arthur’s third album doesn’t come with a warning sticker but it should: Do not attempt to listen to this record in one sitting, especially while operating machinery. Even the happiest among us will swerve into traffic hearing wave after wave of sadness.
Arthur, a one-time The X Factor winner, offers almost an hour of music on YOU, a 17-track monster with a mirror-like cover that reflects the purchaser. But if we are in any way responsible for this amount of anguish, we deeply apologise.
He’s made his reputation as an emo pop-soulster and Arthur is, for the most part, staying in his sad-sack lane, with nearly every tune sounding like he’s holding back ugly tears. “When you hit bottom, only place to go is up,” he sings in one song. On another: “Sometimes I carry on just to stumble down once more.”
Even when he feels relatively happy – Finally Feel Good, Car’s Outside and Maybe – it’s wrenched stuff. He veers into terribly mushy pop with Marine Parade (2013) and Homicide Love but shows he can do much better with If We Can Get Through This We Can Get Through Anything.
It’s a bit of a shame because when Arthur does step outside the Sam Smith mode, he shines. Treehouse with Ty Dolla $ign and Shotty Horroh, and You with Travis Barker, prove he can mix it up. It’s no accident that guests seem to draw him out. (An exception is Unconditionally featuring Adam Lazzara, which is a mess.)
An album this large and onenote reveals that, left to his own, Arthur’s expressive voice often papers over the thinness of the songs (Naked, Empty Space, Fall and Sad Eyes). To borrow a song title from him, if you can get through this album, you can get through anything.