Foxing

Draw Down The Moon

Written by: PP on 04/01/2022 20:32:42

Foxing started their journey as an emo/post-rock band in the same scene as you'll find bands like The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) and many other bands with similarly long names. They've strayed far from their origins on their fourth album "Draw Down The Moon", which should be a polarizing album given that it succeeds the extravagant experimentalism found on the critically acclaimed previous album "Nearer My God" from three years ago. Gone are the multi-segmented movements and ambient post-rock explorations, replaced by what could largely be described as mainstream pop-rock melodies only without a theatrical production.

You could be forgiven to think this description can hardly apply after hearing the opening track "737", though. Here, the band draws deep from their post-rock playbook, slowly progressing the song through crescendo to a loud cacophony of noise and screamed vocals. The cymbals smashing and the raw vocals make it a highlight on the record.

On the opposite side of the spectrum you have material like the title track, "Go Down Together", or "Where The Lightning Strikes Twice". Here, they incorporate grandiose pop melodies that feel more appropriate on an album by Coldplay, Arcade Fire, or even The Killers. You'd be hard-pressed to classify them even as an indie rock band at this point, which isn't necessarily a bad trait considering the fullness of the melodies on offer. The massive soundscapes of "Bialystok" are fitting to arenas or the largest festival stages, featuring precisely the sort of soothing melodies that Roskilde Festival loves to book. It would not surprise me to find Foxing a part of their lineup shortly.

Despite having moved Foxing headfirst into the pop-rock world, "Draw Down The Moon" is an enjoyable collection of pop melodies that have plenty more depth than many of their much larger counterparts. That's perhaps why several listens in, the record keeps revealing new layers to it as you go along. It might be a radical departure from earlier material, but given the strength of the soaring, raw melodies in songs like "If I Believed In Love", most fans should be accepting of the change as long as you go in with the right attitude.

Download: 737, Draw Down The Moon, Beacons, If I Believed In Love
For the fans of: Arcade Fire, Coldplay, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die
Listen: Facebook

Release date 06.08.2021
Hopeless Records

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