Tag: Foxes

Foxes – Love Not Loving You

“There are some very interesting instrumental choices in this”

Tim: I’m not going to lie to you, Tom – there are some very interesting instrumental choices in this upcoming song.

Tom: You’re not wrong there, but oddly I think it might… work?

Tim: You think? Because, is that just the sound of girders being whacked together? Or maybe something smaller – “Hey mate, synthesiser’s gone wrong, I was gonna call a plumber to get get some copper pipes, any other suggestions?” It’s utterly bizarre.

Tom: The actual melody instruments seem to have some odd cameos in there too: there’s what sounds like a brief appearance from an upright bar room piano at about 1:33, which is back and distorted in the middle eight. Against the odds, I find it charming, but there is so much going on that it feels overloaded — coming out of the middle eight into that cleaner pre-chorus felt like a breath of fresh air.

Tim: Yeah, you’re not wrong – there’s so much in there that it does become almost distracting after a while, and I really just want to hear her sing.

Tom: It’s a surprising choice given the stripped-down, bare production that’s in fashion right now. But when I normally turn away at overproduced wall-of-sound stuff… for some reason, I liked this.

Tim: The rest of the song’s okay – no Body Talk, as YouTube keeps reminding me with its tedious autoplay function, but perfectly good as far as Foxes goes – except now I’m hearing that particular noise it’s just such a distraction. Why? WHY? WHYYYYYYY?????

Tom: Maybe it’s a Bob Blackman reference.

Tim: Ermm, yeah. Maybe.

Foxes – Body Talk

“It’s hard to know off bat which part we’re meant to get excited about”

Tim: New one off the next album, this; that’s probably all the info you need.

Tim: It’s an odd one, that intro – there’s no growing, it’s dead on from the start, so it brings the feeling that you’re late to the track, which almost works to its detriment.

Tom: Agreed: it’s the polar opposite of yesterday’s contrast-filled track. Does this go anywhere?

Tim: Well, it’s not just that intro – the backing for the whole thing is at pretty much the same level throughout, barring the middle eight and a few other exceptions, so there’s not a huge amount separating the choruses from the verses. You want maths? Try the Infinite Jukebox chart for it, it’s one of the densest I’ve seen.

Tom: Ooh, get you and your science. I hadn’t thought of using Infinite Jukebox that way, well done.

Tim: After that, it’s hard to know off bat which part we’re meant to get excited about, and so I’m kind of left a bit, well, bored by it, even though I really, really shouldn’t be by a song like this.

Tom: There’s still a clear chorus in there, and there’s some lovely songwriting in there — but yes, it’s let down by that “la, la, la” bit at the very least.

Zedd feat. Foxes – Clarity

“A big, brash dance CHOON, for it is indeed one of those”

Tim: Yes, I know, this track’s eighteen months old, but in that time Foxes has gone from being ‘Who?’ to ‘Oh, her.’

Tom: And Zedd’s done the same, thanks to that collaboration with Hayley Williams.

Tim: So, let’s cash in on that with a re-release.

Tim: Some say a re-release is cheating, of a sort, because you’re not doing any extra work but you’re hoping to get a whole lot more cash from it. Others would argue quite whether there’s actually such a thing as a re-release in the era of downloads, when songs from a full century ago are still just a few clicks away.

Tom: I was expecting that to be a comedy click, but you’re right: any of those could make it to the top 40.

Tim: Well, at least in theory. But whatever the thoughts are, I’m not bothered, because it’s given us another opportunity to have a chat about this song, which is bloody brilliant. An initially understated first verse, soon building and then giving way to a big, brash dance CHOON (for it is indeed one of those) of an instrumental chorus.

Tom: That’s what Zedd’s good at: EDM choons with strong, repetitive female vocals. It’s odd for a producer like this to break through into the full mainstream: for every Zedd, there are literally tens of thousands of home producers who just didn’t get there. But yes: big, brash.

Tim: Quiet bits return, as is their wont in a structured track, but throughout this is a very very good track, and deserves a release for it to get higher than the 29 it reached last time. Let’s just check…ah. 31. Oh well.

Foxes – Let Go For Tonight

“What an absolutely cracking chorus.”

Tim: Follow-up single to Youth, the next track from her soon out and probably aptly titled album Glorious.

Tom: What an absolutely cracking chorus. Not sure about initial those verses, but at least they’re brief.

Tim: Melancholy verses are fairly standard for the genre – “does this relationship have a future” is the particular theme here – before we see an appearance from a lovely upbeat chorus – “so what, let’s have fun” being the continuing theme.

Tom: And a lovely theme it is. I think ‘fun’ is a bit euphemistic though.

Tim: I don’t know – the fun in the video involves paint fights and running around around in the countryside; I suppose it’s possible there may have been other things on the lyricist’s mind during writing, but those are nice things to have fun doing, aren’t they? In fact, it’s quite fun all round, really, and if past tracks are anything to go by this album (23rd February) should be very good indeed.

Foxes – Youth

Enough Christmas for now, let’s move on.

Tim: So, enough Christmas for you?

Tom: You know, I’m not sure. I’m almost disappointed. I actually got a bit Christmassy there.

Tim: Well, we still have our weekly trips to Christmas Past, but let’s move on for now. Here we have a song that has been played a lot on the radio; that’s been mentioned a lot on the whole internet thing; and that I only heard properly for the first time yesterday, so let’s do it now.

Tim: Here’s a thing: the verses are kind of, yeah, why not, it’s okay, The chorus, though, is progressive in a completely different way – same genre, but just so much more. Not just “the verse but more”, but actually a real improvement and one worth noting. And then it stops, and slightly starts all over again. Verse is low key (relatively; yes there are the good steel drums but they’re somewhat lonely), pre-chorus builds up and the chorus is lovely.

Tom: I really rather liked those steel drums. You don’t hear them much in pop, and while it brings the energy level back down it’s still a much fuller sound than you’d get from most instruments.

Tim: For the middle eight, we’re also starting again, low key and building back up to that great chorus to close us off. It’s a way of working through the song that works very well indeed. And then there’s also the video, which is, Minnie Mouse ears aside, unremarkable enough except for the few frames with the person spraying stuff on the wall. It’s not entirely clear, but it’s almost certainly “as long is the music is loud enough we won’t hear the world falling apart”, and let’s be honest that (a) very true, (b) entirely an irresponsible message to send out and (c) still very true. Let’s just listen to music. Sod politics, sod democracy, sod Russell twatting Brand. Let’s just listen to music.