12:14pm Monday 12th July 2010
By Lowenna Waters
THE Oxford quintet Foals cascaded into the limelight in 2007 with their debut album Antidotes which reached Number 3 in the UK Album Charts and also received international recognition and success.
The media hype surrounding their math rock-post punk sound - all yelping lyrics, chiming guitar strings and pulsing afrobeats - was escalated by their featuring on hit television series Skins, among multiple other pop culture successes.
Lead singer Yannis Philippakis has been known to describe their sound as "Ballet with Beats" - music that you can dance to and have a good time.
Now Foals have returned with their new album Total Life Forever, showing a marked shift from their first release.
There is stillness, bleakness and a more open depth of emotion.
It is glacial and haunting, thoughtful and romantic. The lyrics reverberate with themes of infinite life, futurology and fears about the potential for artificial intelligence taking over the planet.
I catch up with drummer Jack Bevan to talk about the evolution of their sound manifest in their new album, the bands burgeoning maturity, their recording and writing process in Gothenburg Sweden and Oxford, and Oxford's fertile music scene.
Total life forever is mellower and more stripped back than Antidotes, Spanish Sahara can be described as Stark. Why is this?
We wrote this record a lot differently and one of the main changes was the way we rehearsed. Sometimes it'd just be me and Jimmy, other times Walter and Yannis and sometimes just Yannis. This approach made us more aware of what each other was doing and we were conscious not to overfill the songs.
You have said that the recording process for the latest album was more organic than that for Antidotes. Was this to do with the stress free environment - being written in the house in Oxford?
Yes, possibly. Living in Oxford allowed us to feel cut-off from any kind of label, management or peer pressure. We forgot about everything else and just played music and watched a whole lot of 'Come Dine With Me'.
Not filling every bit of space is an essential part of the new album. How do you think it has affected the sound?
I think it's important to not throw too much into a song now. On the last record, we all played all the way through all of our songs.
It's important to step back and focus on what's essential. You don't want to wear all your best clothes at once.
The Oxford music scene is pretty fertile,, and lot of bands have emerged from it. Why do you think this is?
I don't know if it's to do with the city necessarily. We have a lot of really talented friends. There's a bunch of new exciting music coming out of Oxford right now. Bands like Trophy Wife, Pet Moon and Jonquil are looking into the future.
How have the live shows evolved since the last album? They are described as feral.
We've been trying to play the new songs as true to the record as possible, which has meant we've needed to have a bit of a re-think with our gear. There's definitely more diversity to our set now as we're able to pick songs from two albums, rather than one.
What was it like recording in Sweden; did you find the seasons in Gothenburg affected the music you made?
Recording in Sweden was an experience. When we arrived, it was midsummer and the weather was beautiful. However, it skipped autumn and got really bleak really quickly. I think it's pretty easy to tell which songs were recorded in which season on the record.
Was the video for Miami anything to do with Tinhed, as I know he is interested in Body Building?
Our pal Dave Ma came up with the whole concept for that video. We are all friends though and Dave is aware of Tinhed's bizarre muscle fetish, so it probably seeped through his subconscious.
How did you find your time at Art school? Do you still have the time to be visually creative?
I loved art school. I miss being in the dark room. I still take photos but not as much as I should. I'm a strong believer in film. I use digital for party snaps, film for 'art'
Do you think art, in its varying forms reflects or forms contemporary culture?
Everything feeds off each other. Fashion is influenced by music and painting and then illustration influenced by film. Everything has been done now; it's all about appropriating decent references in the right way.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
"All of life’s problems can be solved by a nice long soak in a hot bath" - my mum.
Foals can be seen at Reading and Leeds Festivals on August 28 and 29.
You can contact Lowenna at lowenna.waters@nouse.co.uk
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