Album Evaluate
Foxwarren
‘2’
CD/DL/Vinyl
Out 30 Could 2025
(4.5 / 5)
Visitor reviewer Dan O’Farrell evangelizes the second ‘Andy Shauf Band’ album launch.
Playing cards on the desk time: I’m obsessive about Andy Shauf. His run of solo albums from ‘The Bearer of Unhealthy Information’ (2012) by means of to final yr’s ‘Norm’ have turn out to be a few of my favorite albums of all-time.
To my ears, no-one can inform a narrative in track in addition to this seemingly introverted Canadian. The economic system…the wit…the ‘song-cycle-concept-album-cinematic-narrative-arc’-ness. Don’t ever get caught with me at a celebration after asking me who I’ve been listening to. Folks glaze over within the power of my evangelical zeal.
In fact, my zealotry is simply elevated by the truth that – 99% of the time – my reluctant potential-convert’s preliminary response to the identify ‘Andy Shauf’ is to ask ‘who?’ The intricacies of the burgeoning Saskatchewan singer-songwriter scene haven’t all the time made it to the suburbs of Southampton.
So, a brand new Shauf-centred album is all the time an excellent prospect for my ears, even when it bears the identify ‘Foxwarren’, the band that Shauf performs in with brothers Avery and Darryl Kissick, Dallis Bryson and – newly recruited from Shauf’s touring band – Colin Nealis.
It’s tempting to see Foxwarren as Shauf’s ‘side-project’, a folk-rock Tin Machine or less-lubricious Grinderman. The truth is extra nuanced, nevertheless: Shauf has been a member of the band for seventeen years now, predating his solo success. The primary Foxwarren album – launched in 2018 however a decade into their musical lifespan – was a extra direct, Neil Younger-channelling distinction to the quirky nuances of Shauf’s contemporaneous albums – ‘The Get together’ and ‘The Neon Skyline’. ‘Foxwarren’ was the sound of the famously perfectionist Shauf – he performs each single observe on each single instrument on most of his solo albums – letting his hair down. This album is equally playful, however the ‘hair-styling’ is available in a really totally different flavour: possibly a choice of decidedly brash wigs? Foxwarren’s ‘2’ is as palette-cleansing as its predecessor, however easy and direct it most assuredly isn’t.
The place the enjoyment of the earlier Foxwarren album lay within the sound of a band enjoying in a room – natural and seemingly carefree, the enjoyment of ‘2’ is nearly the precise reverse: it’s an album constructed from snippets, fragments and loops, recorded individually in every of the 5 musicians’ home-studios after which uploaded to a shared folder. Weekly digital conferences then formed the instructions of various items, and the assembled chaos was fed by means of Shauf’s looping software program to supply a number of the most fascinating and numerous song-structures of his profession. On paper, this all sounds a bit chilly, admittedly, and I feared the worst as I learn the press-release. Via the audio system, nevertheless, it’s a superbly heat factor…playful as a field of kittens becoming a member of Large Audio Dynamite for a turntable jam the place solely obscure 60’s orchestral-folk data are allowed.
Musical collage typically looks like a misplaced artwork, definitely shedding mainstream floor for the reason that startling sample-delic heyday of ‘Paul’s Boutique’ or ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’. It’s a pleasure to listen to it carried out so nicely right here: half psychedelic mash-up, half ‘channel-hopping’ prankster-ism. In fact, the experimental angle may be overstressed: this isn’t ‘Metallic Machine Music’ and even ‘Child A’. There are moments right here that might have fitted very comfortably on Shauf’s final solo album – ‘Norm’, itself a modernising step and combined by Neil Pogue, extra identified for his work with Tyler The Creator and Outkast. It’s enjoyable, although – and surprises the ear with each new twist.
What’s intelligent and unsettling right here is how Shauf’s trademark melodic presents – and, by God, the person can craft a tune that will get below your pores and skin, Beatles-esque earworms that appear daisy-fresh however someway like they’ve all the time existed within the ether – and shivery, whispery eager of a voice – as weak and defiant because the Canadian economic system – are balanced atop the wonderful mish-mash of flute-loops, ‘I Am The Walrus’ orchestral stabs and stuttering, glitchy drum-beats. It typically sounds totally in contrast to any of his earlier albums, however nonetheless of a chunk, unmistakably Shauf. (Shaufanistic?)
The one ‘Listen2Me’ is an effective place to start out for these new to the Foxwarren world. It’s a glam-inflected stomper (new phrases in a Shauf assessment!) that kicks off – like most of the 15 tracks on ‘2’ – with sampled strains of old-school film-dialogue. ‘I do know I’m not some movie-star…however I would be capable of inform you one thing!’, Shauf snarls, politely. As all the time with Shauf, there may be characterisation at play right here.
The press-release guarantees a story displaying two sides of a romantic relationship. The repeat-listening pleasure will include a gradual deciphering of the story . ‘Norm’ famously featured three narrators, certainly one of whom was God himself, so all bets are off with the ambition of the story-telling right here. I look ahead to the characters revealing themselves, line-by-line, cryptic-clue by cryptic-clue.
The album flows seamlessly. A lot of the songs are below three minutes and interstitial fragments float out and in, 30 seconds right here, 50 seconds there…a stressed radio-dial traversing the airwaves. The album begins with the stately glitch-pop of ‘Dance’, setting out the Foxwarren stall with admirable restraint, a seemingly easy pop-song constructed on shifting sands of 1940’s-style orchestration. Issues get weirder from then-on in…it’s fairly a journey.
Stand-out tracks from my listens to date embody future-single ‘Deadhead’ – propelled by a decidedly funky bass-line; the wonderful baroque pop of ‘Costume’, all brooding strings, lo-fi interludes and flute-flutters; and, following straight on, the joyful ‘70’s disco inflections of ‘Wings’. As ever with Shauf, every thing looks like a grower, although, and my favourites subsequent week, subsequent month and subsequent yr could possibly be radically totally different.
Greater than nearly any artist at the moment recording, to my thoughts, Shauf’s songs work greatest consumed in a single album-long swig. Down in a single. Benefit from the intoxication.
Foxwarren 2 all of the hyperlinks you want.
All phrases by Dan O’Farrell (of Distinction Engine fame. Dan additionally writes opinions for In-Widespread).
A Plea From Louder Than Conflict
Louder Than Conflict is run by a small however devoted unbiased staff, and we depend on the small amount of cash we generate to maintain the positioning working easily. Any cash we do get just isn’t lining the pockets of oligarchs or mad-cap billionaires dictating what our journalists are allowed to suppose and write, or hungry shareholders. We all know instances are powerful, and we need to proceed bringing you information on essentially the most fascinating releases, the most recent gigs and the rest that tickles our fancy. We aren’t pushed by revenue, simply pure enthusiasm for a scene that every certainly one of us is keen about.
To us, music and tradition are eveything, with out them, our very souls shrivel and die. We don’t cost artists for the publicity we give them and to many, what we do is completely important. Subscribing to certainly one of our paid tiers takes only a minute, and every sign-up makes a huge effect, serving to to maintain the flame of unbiased music burning! Please click on the button under to assist.
John Robb – Editor in Chief
