Hey Sputters—

Welcome back to Neek’s 1st Listen, where I listen to an album for the very first time while my fingers fly across the keyboard, generating near-thoughtless spur-of-the-moment takes. It’s messy, stream-of-conscious, and only very lightly edited. You’ve been warned!

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FOXING
Foxing

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Full disclosure:
I love Foxing. Well, for brevity’s sake, I love Nearer My God, and most of their other stuff with the occaisional asterisk. Perhaps I shouldn’t have heard “Hell 99” first but it left just a bad taste in my mouth that ran through “Greyhound” and it never left. Still, I don’t expect this to be the first Foxing album I’m not into, I’m just worried that their scattershot freneticism might be more frustrating than captivating this time around.

Without further ado…

“Secret History”:
The scratchy record vocal sample playing under Conor’s voice suddenly makes me realize why Sowing cites “Vices” in his opening paragraph, but I wonder if it’ll have the same “surprise explosion.” And there we go. Ok and it’s already gone! So like, I’m not sure that counts as a surprise after “Hell 99.” Alternating between two very disparate sounds and genres and melodies on the same track is an interesting opening statement for sure, but I fail to see this having the same lasting impact as, say, “737” did for both me and its parent album. 6/10

“Hell 99”:
Ok well that opener was a natural lead-in to this song if anything, but I still find myself consistently nonplussed by the melodies and wacky instrumentation exploding in every direction. Raging guitars, very loud screms, tons of noise building to a wall of sound but I’m not finding a single crag to latch onto. Speak of the devil but this outro is significantly more compelling than the rest of the song to me, so maybe I’ll find a way to like this song in time. 5/10

“Spit”:
Ok a Foxing song! Really funky drumbeat and haunting backing vox make up the opening, then crystalline guitar lines appear, slowly turning this into a solid rock song. I’m really liking the vocals and ok that guitar in the verses is really pretty. But idk whether I’m more confused by this album’s need to throw heavy sonic jumpscares into every song so far, or my own indifference to them. 6/10

“Greyhound”:
Hey I liked this single! Let’s see how it holds up. Yeah it’s gorgeous, that’s good. It’s a gorgeously painted guitarscape that reminds me of the intricate Dealer, but of course that peace cannot left forever. The dissonant guitar solo here is not a detractor in anyway, actually painting a really nice contrast to the more gentle side of the song—actual working contrast! “It means nothing to me!” and the guitar blaring over that slowly building wall of noise is just a spectacular sequence. It’s lovely the way swells and fades into ambience, pulsing until Conor comes back in with his plaintive whimpers. Loving the way they cut his vocals up in this intro, reminds me a lot of NMG but is definitely its own thing. I’m glad that this album will have at least one beautiful example of patient songwriting. 8/10

“Cleaning”:
Bleep bloops!! Oh that isn’t an intro it’s the song. It’s minimal but compelling, just his vox and a few warbling electronic elements. The song beginning to swell a bit in the midpoint, but it never loses its mournful atmosphere. This one is a kick in the feels for sure. 7/10

“Barking”:
Direct transition into this song, I suppose this is the sequel? This is maybe the most straightforward a song has sounded so far, but we’re only a minute in so maybe we’ll switch to skramz in the back half. It’s definitely perking up with the chorus, really sunny guitars and soaring vocals. This bridge(?) is really lovely too, the way that bass kicks us back into the chorus is really great. This song in general is really great! It somehow sounds like an in-between of NMG and the bouncier pop-rock of DDTM, and honestly could have been a benefit to either tracklist. 8/10

“Kentucky McDonalds”:
Ok well that’s a good song title! It’s pretty chill so far uhhhhh, just repeating guitar notes and Conor’s slowly intensifying vocals. Wow I sure wonder if somethings gonna happen. Is that a steel guitar? Getting a bit westerny are we? And the big guitars crash in, the vox are very big too! And now the drums are doing their very loud thing too. The mix honestly sounds like everyone got their turn at the board and kept trying to sound louder than everyone else. So often this album feels like it’s playing into heaviness for heaviness’s sake. See and then it pulls back for the outro and says “but this isn’t really a metal song guys because it’s only part of the song.” Eh idk it’s fun and fine but I have no emotional stake. And I want one!! Idk, the song is occasionally tuneful and maybe on an album that started with “Greyhound” this would sound like a worthy and unique addition to this track listing, but it’s redundant as it stands—5/10

“Looks Like Nothing”:
I’ve had to start this song a few times over because I keep getting distracted, but also I genuinely keep forgetting if I missed anything. But it’s a very nice loop. I’m enjoying the subtle build here a lot, the pathos of this song and the emphasis on Conor’s voice is reminding me of “Bastardizer” a lot (which is awesome bc that song fucks). Okay his screams feel a lot more earned this time around, and the guitar is really sick. The static intensity of the music is nutty, and the static sticks around for a moving outro. Maybe my fave so far?8+/10

“Gratitude”:
Wack 80s synths? Totally scattered drumbeat? Ok! I’m kinda digging this bass groove and there’s a real propulsion to this song a minute in. This might be the first time I’ve felt his cleans were overwhelming the music, but I feel like a better balance could’ve worked in its favor. The drums popping off damn!! Love how they worked in, this song is really nailing the vacillations in sound, kinda reminds me of a Jack White song with how pleasantly all over the place it is. See and then they made me eat my mixing comment earlier, this is why I don’t try to sound smart with mixing. But yeah this song fucks too! 8/10

“Dead Cat”:
Do music people call fluffy wind-resistant mic covers “deadcats,” or is that just a film industry thing? Anyway, this is a shortie damn! Ok he’s yelling a lot, the music is kinda nice, dig the vibe but also why are we here? I’m really struggling to talk about this one but there’s definitely stuff going on, I like it but also it’s one of those interludes that just interludes. 6/10

“Dead Internet”:
Ok wow yeah that production definitely does not hurt my ears, no sir. I’m having trouble figuring out if these lyrics are witty or not bc of how distracting the “lo-fi” drum machine is. When the guitars break through things improve, but I’m still having trouble enjoying these spoopy sounds and the assumedly satirical way they clash with each other. I’m having trouble understanding how people could derive enjoyment from this. 5/10

“Hall of Frozen Heads”:
Ok ngl I’ve heard a lot of hype around this track but we’ll see! So far I’m digging this moody instrumental, relatively very chill and restrained—but not without tension. I’m loving the build of this song, as it inflates it becomes so spacey and vibrant but never loses its intimacy. Woah this just keeps spindling on in interesting directions without resorting to cheap tricks? It kicks ass as a driving but kaleidoscopic rock song, the pristine sound of Dealer meshed with the muscle they’ve gained since then. Love love. 9/10

“Cry Baby”:

Please tell me they don’t end this on a strait-laced piano ballad. Anything but that. Ok maybe I spoke too soon, I’m way too much of a sucker for Conor’s voice, and these guys have a penchant for not being boring. It’s not exciting either to be fair, and my patience is starting to wear thin. Don’t love ending an an opaque voice sample but hey. This was pretty nice, but I don’t think I could listen to it as anything but a closer. 6/10

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OVERALL:
Foxing’s “Foxing” is definitely as wild as everyone says it is, but I can’t help but feeling that its restlessness did little to help the songs here. It’s frantic to the point that it dulled my reaction to its heavier moments, which are very deliberately counterweighted by a plethora of airy interludes and outros. I still love my guys, and this is a band that’s clearly still capable of putting out stellar material, but I wish they were more discerning this time around.

1. Secret History: 6
2. Hell 99: 5
3. Spit: 6
4. Greyhound: 8
5. Cleaning: 7
6. Barking: 8
7. Kentucky McDonald’s: 5
8. Looks Like Nothing: 8
9. Gratitude: 8
10. Dead Cat: 6
11. Dead Internet: 5
12. Hall of Frozen Heads: 9
13. Cry Baby: 6

AVG: 6.69/10 = 3.3/5

ACTUAL SCORE: 3.3/5