Richard Godwin28 August 2015
(Warners)
From brittle disco to afro-indie to intricate prog rock, Oxford’s Foals have charted a singular course without ever quite coming up with anything distinctive enough to transcend their pseudy (but sizeable) fanbase in the manner of Radiohead.
For their fourth album, frontman Yannis Philippakis has turned the guitars up to 11 and set his voice to a hard-rock growl, perhaps in an attempt to bludgeon the rest of us into submission. The title track builds from a battery of drums and falling-down-the-stairs guitar riff into a floating groove — a reminder that they’re among the finest sonic architects around. But while no one doubts their ability to make intricate and rewarding music a little more surface would count for more.
