The infamous second album. It is often built up on a mixture of things; hype and pressure in the main. Many bands have desponded over the years because their second albums have simply not delivered. However, the Foals debut album was what many bands second albums turn out to be, patchy, frantic and immature. Maturity is what many of the adolescent teenage listeners lacked back in 2008, maybe this was the reason that the five piece from Oxford gained so much popularity and hype. Nonetheless, something had to change, simply for Foals to progress musically and grow in stature.
The eagerly awaited second album Total Life Forever sees Yannis Philippakis and co take greater care in the music they’re producing, influence by Icelandic artist Sigur Rós is evident on ‘Fugue’ and the real improvement here is not the toned down approach and emotion that is clear on debut single ‘Spanish Sahara’ but the vocals of lead singer Yannis Philippakis. The singing rather then aimless shouting over fast dance beats is what has propelled foals into bigger places. ‘This Orient’ is still in keeping with the songs on their previous album, and shows the diversity and maturity that Foals have gained as a band. In essence, this album is, in my eyes fantastic, however I can’t see it having mass appeal to the rest of the UK.
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