Review Summary: Out with the new, in with the old.
When a band tries channeling the old days, it often ends with disaster. Their intentions are often as good as they can be, but good intentions can't really excuse bad music. After all, it's just wallowing in the filth of an entire era of music. Filth is something that is to be avoided. And, of course, even if it is good, it's still very unoriginal. If an artist and a musician can't make his or her own art or music, it's unfair to refer to it as either.
This is where Foxygen shines the most. While most bands similar in nature to this duo influenced by the old days of rock and roll would just imitate the music completely, these guys decide to avoid that idiocy, and instead opt to innovate the music of the old days. They choose to blend the styles of what music used to exist with the styles of what music does exist, and, in the process, they make a type of music that doesn't exist-- or, at least, not that I know of.
In the opening of the first track, Abandon My Toys, you hear a beeping sound closely approximated to a door bell. That doesn't stay long, however, because that just doesn't sit well with Foxygen. Instead, they settle down for a little bit of the good old drums and guitar that never let them down. The acoustic strummings of this track work wonders for bringing you into the album, and it shows off the immense talent to be heard in the tracks to follow.
And speaking of the guitar and drums, both of those are very, very well done in this album. The guitar isn't really anything excellent-- it's not something that is going to wow people with how technical and talented the guitarist is. That said, I understand that that is what sort of what these guys were going for. It never seems to be shown off in any way. There aren't any times when a song decides to showcase the guitar. However, the drums, on the other hand, are made in an astounding display of talent, rhythm, and fun that I don't feel out of the drums of a song often. This is something that would have been a problem if it had been any worse, because there are many moments throughout the album where you're clearly meant to notice the drums. If Foxygen decided to show any less than their best, it wouldn't have been the same.
Of course, as with most music, the vocals are what are really showcased in this album, and it would have been a tragedy to hear this singing hidden in the rest of the sounds. You see, Sam France shows some serious levels of talent in this regard. He opens Make It Known with a soothing, low voice similar to Jim Morrison or Michael Stipe, two of the most soothing, low voices in history. I'm not quite prepared to say it's as soothing as those two, but it is still very nice. And then, once those moments are over, he switches to a higher shout that shows the tense emotion that he is clearly trying to give us with the album. He shows this range in each song, but it was just a lot more apparent in Make It Known than the other six songs.
The lo-fi recording of this album is taken to extremely improve the quality of the album. These guys decided to take the independent nature of Foxygen and use it as an opportunity to make the songs as big as possible. Teenage Alien Blues showcases this quality the most, as it seems to use static as its own instrument in the background. It gives it an atmosphere of tension and chaos that wouldn't have been quite as great and powerful as it is if it had expensive equipment in its production.
"I'm willing to change!" Sam yells in Make It Known. For the love of god, don't. This album is perfect, simply perfect. If they release a sophomore album-- which I definitely hope they do-- there's no conceivable way it will be as excellent as this if they change. If it is better, though, they will have proven that Foxygen is more than just a band-- they are a brilliant force in the music industry. That said, I don't really doubt a followup would be any better. This one came out of left field, so I'm willing to bet that anything they make will be in the same ballpark.
