Album Review: Foals - 'Life Is Yours'
Foals’ seventh studio album ‘Life Is Yours’ is an enticing and invigorating new direction for the band, one which admirably concludes their recent artistic trajectory and is destined to entertain.
The band’s musical journey has seen them progress from humble beginnings at student parties in Oxford, to producing anthemic albums fit for stadium tours. The next step on their voyage appears to be the dancefloor through an album packed to the rafters with funk-induced tracks.
It’s quite astonishing the Foals (or more specifically, Yannis) have still yet to run out of exciting high-end guitar licks, and this LP is no different. We have been treated to four singles prior to the release of their full-length release, and the album springs few surprises following them. The theme of the album is succinctly encapsulated in their first single ‘Wake Me Up’, which blends a Nile Rodgers-esque riff with a raucous bassline and a recognisable tone on the keys.
It’s as if they were teasing us with their most recent project ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost‘, an album which they split into two parts. ‘Part I’ presented a path towards digital excellence, whilst ‘Part II’ once again exposed their fiery underbelly and led us to wonder which album would fuel their artistic direction. With the release of ‘Life Is Yours’, it seems clear that ‘Part I’ won the battle with rounds to spare.
As the album thunders on we are treated to the familiar boisterous lyrical imagery of Yannis Philippakis, and their recognisable slow burn build up, as frustrating as it is euphoric. At times ‘Life Is Yours’ can feel protracted and many of the tracks a little homogenous, reminiscent of Bombay Bicycle Club’s tensions with electronically focussed drumming, and in need of the youthful urgency of previous projects.
Fans of early-years Foals may be left wanting on this album; there is a distinct lack of the frenetic drumming and overdrive-fuelled riffs we have become accustomed to. Yet you cannot expect a band as talented as this to stand still and as far as musical evolutions go, the last ten years have been a masterclass from Foals.
‘Flutter’, the sixth track on the new album, presents itself as the perfect ode to their past heights; an excruciating build-up which reveals itself in the most familiar of forms: a vintage Foals crescendo in a wall of noise. Without doubt the most nostalgic number on ‘Life Is Yours’, ‘Flutter’ can remind us of what once was.
It would be too easy to dismiss this album as a pre-empted fall from grace. Their most recent work may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the Oxford outfit have nurtured their sound towards funk and pop since ‘Holy Fire’, and ‘Life Is Yours’ feels like the culmination of those efforts.
It is a fine example of their tempered progression, and surely has produced more than one summer anthem along the way.
Words by Dan Thompson
