Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1′s skillful incorporation more of electronic elements than Foals have ever used before will leave you pumped for part 2.
British indie rock bands who got their start in the 2000s seem to go one of two ways over ten years later: 1.) “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” or 2.) “let’s not rest on our laurels.” Bands who capitalized heavily on the garage rock revival of that decade largely took the former attitude, as seen in the recent releases by the Kooks, Razorlight, and the Libertines. Other bands have constantly reinvented themselves, and have fifth or sixth albums that sound almost nothing like their debuts. Such is the case for Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, and Foals.
Foals’s fifth album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1, again shows the band turning over a new leaf. The fairly straightforward rocking nature of 2015’s What Went Down has been minimized, replaced by more electronic elements than ever before. There are enough of Foals’s stylistic flares throughout to still be immediately recognizable as their work, but Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 otherwise represents an exciting new chapter for the band.
Two things spring to mind when thinking about what have become Foals’s trademarks: their extensive use of guitar harmonics that create strong yet airy melodies, and singer Yannis Philippakis’s distinctive voice that seems to get lower and less-accented with each album. Digging deeper though, another constant throughout Foals’s discography has been their affinity for tracks with lengthy instrumental outros. This makes for some great live show experiences, as the band often extends songs well beyond their studio runtimes. Antidotes had “Heavy Water,” Total Life Forever had “After Glow,” Holy Fire had “Inhaler,” What Went Down had “Night Swimmers” and now Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 has “Exits.” With prominent hi-hat and a synthesizer melody that’s sprinkled on three notes at time, this single really hits its peak two-thirds the way through, when a guitar riff takes center stage and Philippakis’s voice functions like a harmonizing instrument. It may not be their punchiest extended outro, but it is good to see that Foals have yet to break this streak.
Foals have never completely shied away from utilizing synthesizer on their tracks (see: the outro of “Balloons” on Antidotes), but Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 is the closest the band have come to synthpop. You can hear this most noticeably on “In Degrees,” which sounds like the lovechild of Foals and Cut Copy. There’s not only an electronic-driven melody and a bassline straight out of a 90s dance track, but the vocal distortion at the chorus also creates an effect that sounds like it could be a workable hip-hop backtrack. Opening track “Moonlight” is much more mystifying, with atmospheric, chant-like synthesizers that eventually give way to a technical sounding guitar part that reminds you of the band’s math rock roots. While it’s become such a cliché at the point for indie rock bands to increasingly embrace electronica that Foals may seem late to the game, this transition at least feels totally natural for the band.
That said, there are some hiccups with this pivot to electronic and dance styles on Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1. “On the Luna” is hook-laden and accessible in the same way that “My Number” was on Holy Fire, and there’s a strong resemblance between the two right down to the beats between guitar riffs. However, the keyboard that opens the track is laid on a little too thick, and overpowers every other part of the band. “Sunday” begins slowly, like a mundane stadium rocker complete with synthesized strings and all, but completely changes tempo about halfway through to become an excellent dance-rock track underlined by a pumping house beat. Just as you’re getting into this groove though, it pulls the rug out from under you for a second time and switches back to its opening tempo. Now, what could have been an epic outro that outshines “Exits” is reduced to being an exceptional interlude on an otherwise banal track. These are relatively minor issues in the grand scheme of things, since both songs really do stand out on the album, but they got harder and harder to ignore after repeat listens.
The remainder of Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 is less electronic-oriented but more varied, as each track has more experimental flair than you’d expect after Holy Fire and What Went Down. Even “White Onions,” the most cut-and-dried rocker on the album, combines the ferocity of What Went Down’s title track with the intricate guitar notes of Antidotes. Prior to the album’s recording, the band faced their only significant lineup change to date with the departure of bassist Walter Gervers, so this may explain their desire to upend expectations. This doesn’t mean that there’s any shortage of conspicuous bass parts though, as “Syrups” spotlights this instrument for an unexpectedly funky effect. Capping off all of these surprises is the closing track “I’m Done With This World (& It’s Done With Me),” which is a quiet, brooding piano ballad. It’s a much less climactic way to end an album that What Went Down’s “A Knife in the Ocean,” but in may prove fitting depending on what Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 has in store.
It’s easy to find the idea of Foals taking a step into electronic music underwhelming, and the ubiquity of synthesizer throughout Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 may not feel like such a grand revelation. However, the album is a nice step back from the somewhat overblown rock sound they had been settling into during their last two releases, and there’s enough of Foals’s now-signature techniques combined with these new styles for everything to be deftly executed. After this effort, my prevailing thought is just “bring on Part 2.”
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