Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Pt. 1 - Foals: Review

Foals

is a British indie rock band who blew up upon the release of their critically acclaimed debut album Anecdotes in 2008 and have since been a consistent force in the indie rock world as they would drop three more popular records throughout the next decade that established them as one of the most popular and successful indie acts of their generation. It's been five years since the release of Foals last album What Went Down and after dropping three quick and successful singles earlier this year excitement for the bands project is as high as ever.

Review By Lavender:

Foals has been a very solid and consistent member of the indie rock world for almost the entirety of the over 10 years they've been in existence. Any questions of their quality that a decent but not amazing first album may have brought up we're certainly fixed in 2010 when their second album, Total Life Forever took the indie world by storm. But a few years later I was scared that the band may end up with a one and done moment in the world of truly great indie rock projects as their 2013 album Holy Fire was made up of mostly timid and comfortable indie rock songs that didn't reach the compositional or sonic interest that the band had drummed up on Total Life. Fortunately they left on a good note before taking the longest break between albums of their career with 2015's What Went Down a much more interesting and indulgent walk through some of the darker and softer elements of indie rock. So after hearing three singles that I really enjoyed it seemed like Everything could be one of the best projects from the band to date, but even with its good start calling this record truly great would be a little bit much. 

The singles leading up to this project are a textbook example of how to be an interesting and attention grabbing indie group in 2019. Exits is the lead single and pointed in a very good direction with its sharp hook and fantastic instrumental build. The track doesn't do anything groundbreaking for indie rock necessarily but it is a fantastic tune nonetheless. On The Luna was the next single and it lands midway through the tracklist bringing upbeat and engaging indie rock riffs that craft a catchy, upbeat and fun song that is guaranteed to be stuck in your head. Finally Sunday the one everybody is talking about is one of the best Foals songs to date. Its energy is throttling and it achieves a fantastic build-up working in tandem with the backing instrumentation. The breakdown in the middle of the song gives it a moment to hold onto your attention even tighter and when it flies back in for a strong finish it serves as the best example of how Foals are using composition to heighten their songs.

There are two other songs I enjoy a lot on the project: White Onions near the start is a high energy tune that has a super distinct and catchy riff and the booming vocals over the chorus are a great touch that makes it one of the most fun tracks on the album. The closing track I'm Done With The World is a very compelling ballad that I think helps the album end off on strong note. It has a simple instrumental that builds with Yannis' excellent vocal performance to create a track that grips you with its bombastic final moments as the very last sounds on the project.

Unfortunately the remaining songs vary from forgettable to bad. Both Cafe D'Athens and In Degrees are tracks I enjoy and don't mind revisiting but both need a little something extra to take that next step into being truly good tunes. Degrees in particular has some strong structure but needs a little bit more energetic performances all around. Syrups is a decent song that takes far too long to develop, almost the entire first three minutes of its nearly 6 minute run time are spent building up what turns out to be just a decent conclusion with a very tame climax. The record also opens with its weakest moment, the lifeless Moonlight, not an XXXTENTACION cover although I wish it was because that would have to be more interesting than the unpleasant droning of a track that is sheer background noise.

Everything No Saved isn't my new favorite Foals records but it avoids the pitfalls of a record like Holy Fire and has some serious highlights. Going forward Foals should continue their stylistic evolution and put forth some more consistency in order to really drop a classic again, but given the short time constraints before the release of their next album it doesn't seem like that is necessarily their priority. 7/10

Thanks For Reading! For more indie rock reviews check out my review of Broken Social Scene's Lets Try The Latest Vol. 1 here.