All Foxing Songs Ranked
catch a heapin helpin of hyperbole while its hot! |
| 57 |  | Foxing
Foxing
56. Dead Cat: I was a little torn on whether to put this or “Bialystock” at the bottom, as they are both emblematic of two very different types of “bad”, but at least that one’s just a shitty, bland stock indie pop song. I sort of respect what they went for here in an odd way, some sort of weird lounge tune, and it's certainly more interesting than "Bialystock" but man this shit is sandpaper to me. I usually love Conor's vocals but they are unbearable here and make this song basically make me feel like I'm watching drunk karaoke in hell. |
| 56 |  | Foxing
Draw Down the Moon
55. Bialystock: That said, this is a disaster too. I’m not a very big fan of Draw Down the Moon but at least I can usually recognize that it’s songwriting isn’t bad rather than just kinda okay or sometimes even pretty good but gets marred by rough production choices, but the tune at the core of this one isn’t any good either so it’s a really grating display of this album’s failings. |
| 55 |  | Foxing
Dealer
54. Laundered: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzohfuck uh yeah this is some dollar store Sigur Ros until it tries to pull a shift and throw like a hypnotic drum loop that is even more boring and goes on forevzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
| 54 | | Foxing
Draw Down the Moon
53. Where the Lightning Strikes Twice: Similarly to “Bialystock” I am not a big fan of the songwriting here either, so they make a rough combo. Sounds like a bad Killers song. That chorus isn't thaaat bad the first time you hear it and they beat it into the goddamn ground and now I think it is that bad and very annoying |
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Dealer
52. Three on a Match: Dealer ends on an absolute whimper and the worst closer in the Foxing canon |
| 52 | | Foxing
Draw Down the Moon
51. Cold Blooded: Man I do not like some of the hooks on this album. Took me a while to remember how this song went and once I could I kinda wished I didn’t |
| 51 | | Foxing
Foxing
50. Cry Baby: I really wish I liked this song. I like it’s lyrics at least, which I think are a wonderful thematic tie in to how frightened the album feels sometimes, but my god sometimes it feels like Conor built a piano ballad entirely out of all the worst melodic ideas in “Crown Candy”. Probably the most frustrated I am by any song in their catalog, really lets the album down |
| 50 | | Foxing
Dealer
49. Coda: This is an okay outro to “Eiffel” I guess but it’s pretty unnecessary. Payoff of that song is effective enough as is |
| 49 | | Foxing
Draw Down the Moon
48. Go Down Together: This song is uh, certainly effective in the sequence of painting the vibe of the rest of the record; middle of the road stock indie pop. It’s probably the most “fine” song on the album. Nothing particularly wrong with it but also nothing really memorable about it save a few catchy enough hooks here and there |
| 48 |  | Foxing
Nearer My God
47. Crown Candy: Ughhhhhhhh this is the other contender for their most frustrating song, although at least it’s not at as important a point in the sequence as “Cry Baby”. Plus this song has way more good ideas, it’s verse is mostly good all the way through and so is it’s bridge. I wouldn’t even say the melody of the hook itself is bad either but the presentation of the key change alongside the vocal layering is a very odd complete shifting of the verses vibe in a way that has just never sat right with me. Just feels like they didn’t really know where to go with this one, which is only more glaring on an album as otherwise solid as Nearer My God |
| 47 |  | Foxing
The Albatross
46. Calm Before: Transition track to set up the closer to The Albatross that’s pretty in one ear out the other but pleasant enough that I wouldn’t really put it lower |
| 46 | | Foxing
Foxing
45. Cleaning: I respect this one more than I actually like listening to it, but there's not really any state I can get in where I enjoy it because it's either too sad to be comfortable to listen to or too disengaging musically to be interesting to listen to. It's an effective transition piece and undeniably integral thematically to the album but ehh |
| 45 | | Foxing
Draw Down the Moon
44. At Least We Found the Floor: I actually kinda like this song. Scratches my itch of wanting one Foxing song to sound like The National on each album. Conor sounds great on it, the melody is pretty, and it’s a nice breather from the godawful prod choices. Wouldn’t say I love it or anything but it’s far from a bigger offender on Draw Down the Moon |
| 44 | | Foxing
The Albatross
43. Quitus: I like parts of this song. I like the layers of vocals during the mid section especially. What keeps this song from being any higher though is just that I’m not super convinced by it’s pacing which feels kinda janky and amateurish to me |
| 43 | | Foxing
Draw Down the Moon
42. Draw Down the Moon: This gets more of a pass than a lot of the rest of the album by being a lot catchier, it’s a reasonably successful song in accomplishing what it wants to be. Still not really a huge fan of it though |
| 42 | | Foxing
The Albatross
41. Bit By a Dead Bee Pt 1: I think a lot of people really like this one but I’ve never really been able to buy into their take on a more Swan-ish sound. It's okay though, kind of a fun curiosity |
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Dealer
40. Winding Cloth: This is a little dozey but the strings that pop up eventually do give this a pretty memorable and evocative crescendo so fair play |
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The Albatross
39. Pent Up in a Bind: Twinkly chimes sounds for a minute. Not really enough to be any higher but it’s pretty, and oddly a more effective transition piece than the ones they were writing in more detail at the time |
| 39 | | Foxing
Foxing
38. Hell 99: Not sure if all of this track works for me, as I think it’s got some of the worst lyricism on the self-titled which is kinda hard to ignore when it’s being screamed in your face, while also having some of their ugliest and least palatable production to date. With that said, I still think it’s pretty fun, got some nice bounce to it, is too important to the flow of the album to remove, and dissolves into noise very effectively, setting up a coda that I like way more than the song proper |
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Dealer
37. Indica: This is a very well named song lmao. Immersive and sleepy this boy is, but it's nice |
| 37 | | Foxing
Draw Down the Moon
36. If I Believed in Love: One of the best songs off Draw Down the Moon, boasting a huge hook that would absolutely rule in a song that didn’t have so many baffling production choices on it. This is immensely frustrating because it shows that even Draw Down the Moon’s better songs are victims of that album |
| 36 | | Foxing
The Albatross
35. Bit By a Dead Bee Pt 2: I pretty rarely jam Albatross or Dealer in full because I have a combined tracklist between the two I’d rather hit instead, and this is probably the best song that isn’t on that. The way the horns pop up later on gives off big “Slapstick” energy in a really magical way (although I guess it’d be the other way around since this song is 5 years older lol) |
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Draw Down the Moon
34. 737: Took a while for me to be able to get into this because of the intense whiplash provided by it as a bait and switch typa opener but we’re not ranking sequencing decisions |
| 34 | | Foxing
The Albatross
33. Bloodhound: That said, this being much more indicative of the general direction of the album, and tying in much more seamlessly into its following track despite 737 actually having a linked transition, is what gives this lil intro track the slight edge. |
| 33 | | Foxing
Dealer
32. Night Channels: Maps out a lot of the territory Dealer hits pretty nicely, starting out in a more delicate, understated sphere before the drums come in and help set up a nice crescendo. Nothing new for the sound they’re doing really but they ride the tropes well enough |
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The Albatross
31. Rory: Big fan favorite, which makes sense to me since it’s emblematic of a lot of Albatross’s hallmarks presented in the album’s most direct track. I wouldn’t say I’m crazy for it but it’s pretty good and I get it. |
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Foxing
30. Looks Like Nothing: This would probably be higher if I was a bigger fan of Conor’s performance. I like the whirring percussion backdrop and think it reaches a really effective and memorable payoff, but unfortunately there’s no amount of listening to this album I can put in that’ll make him not sound off key. Still alright though |
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The Albatross
29. The Medic: Of the two staple Albatross songs I’m giving this the slight edge since it’s bouncier and more fun. One of the songs where they feel most comfortable in this style for sure. Conor’s very yell-y style on this album isn’t really my bag but it fits into this song well enough and his own dynamics pair nicely with that of the instrumental, boasting some of the most satisfying playing on the album |
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Draw Down the Moon
28. Beacons: Pretty glad this is still in the setlist as I really like the tune at its core here. Pairs an absolutely killer melody with Conor’s best lyrics on the album and is only really held back by DDTM’s production choices |
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Dealer
27. Weave: Back half crescendo is where this song really pulls its weight but that shit almost feels ripped from a Lydia song. Think I like it more as a standalone track than I do an opener but it’s still great |
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The Albatross
26. Inuit: Although the vibe of this song is pretty consistent throughout I also find it picks up a lot the further it goes along. Whatever section it is where Conor’s belting about how he “FELT CASCADES RIGHT THROOOOOUGU ME” is probably the earliest snapshot moment in their discog that I love |
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Dealer
25. Redwoods: A gorgeous and subdued exercise in tranquility, “Redwoods” asks the question “what if just the quiet parts of “Weave” but with more texture?” It pays off with a song that feels as if it has the warmth of a blanket |
| 25 | | Foxing
The Albatross
24. Den Mother: Despite Albatross having arguably the highest floor of any of their albums, it does sort of come at the cost of having as high a ceiling as anything else seeing all four of their other LPs have a top ten entry. Not a bad problem to have for a debut album though, shows the boys have only pushed themselves from here. That said, I do love this song, and it’s payoff after the little winding guitars leading into the bridge is the most high impact and memorable moment on the album for me. |
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Dealer
23. The Magdalene: Y’know for the extent of which Foxing nowadays is billed as an “every album is a drastic reinvention” band, there are always through lines to past albums in influence, and I feel like “The Magdalene” melodically served as the jumping off point for stuff like “Lich Prince” years later. It’s still slotted very well into Dealer’s own subdued vocabulary though, reaching a more understated payoff achieved through a little triplet passage |
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Nearer My God
22. Slapstick: Why hello Nearer My God, long time no see. “Crown Candy” aside, this is one of my favorite albums of all time. Of any album that I was a fan of when it dropped back in high school (so like late 2015-early 2019), this is the one that’s held up the strongest for me, and I’ve only found more to love about it with each and every listen. Even if a song here ranks on the lower side relative to this album, it’s still probably one of my favorite songs I’ve ever heard. What keeps “Slapstick” on the lower side here if anything is probably just that it hit me much later than the rest of the album, I didn’t really get much out of it until a couple of months ago. That said, it threads in Dealer’s influence vocally well alongside a more gentle backdrop that still showcases their “new” sound at the time. The back half is absolutely unreal, as the band pulls one of their best key changes that leads into a gigantic, almost marching payoff before the song gorgeously dissolves away |
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Dealer
21. Glass Coughs: Though I am a fan of “Redwoods”, this track and “Eiffel” back to back really carry Dealer’s second side for me before it whimpers away on its last two cuts. Definitely one of the most effective deployments of the post rock influence, as tremolo guitars raining down in the bridge gel gloriously alongside the open, thunderous drums, and these perfectly prop up Conor’s killer melody. |
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Nearer My God
20. Heartbeats: “YOU ARE NOT IN LOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOove” so good. Hugely brilliant move on this band’s part flipping the mood of the album entirely towards a brighter, dancier direction after a song as bleak as “Five Cups”. The intro of this song where the strings and horns swirl around each other before the beat drops in gives me life like few other things man. This sitting in Nearer My God’s bottom three only further speaks to how wildly sick this album is. |
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Foxing
19. Dead Internet: Despite being on the more divisive side on the new album I have no problems with this beast. The production on this album is kinda hit or miss for me but this song is perfect for their palate here, as an almost Chris Cornell melody pierces through some scrapyard sounding clanking Yankee Hotel Foxtrot era Wilco-isms before the heavy side sears through the track, and it’s a very satisfying final rager to the album |
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Nearer My God
18. Trapped in Dillard’s: This song is wonderful and perfectly dropped in the sequencing, offering a more low-key vibe really centered around the pianos and skittering electronics throughout the album in between two of its biggest bangers. The guitar line Eric brings in is so liquid smooth and shimmers beautifully through the chorus, which doesn’t really lean on the vocal passage as much as everything fits in together. Phenomenal lyrics as well. |
| 18 | | Foxing
Foxing
17. Secret History: Feel like I’ve put a lot of songs in similar positions of their sequence by each other lol. Although this is, by a hair, not my favorite song that’s ever opened a Foxing album, I do think it’s the most effective kick off they’ve ever had to an album. Even having looked at the song’s hilarious waveform beforehand I wasn’t ready for the moment the floor drops from under you on the rollercoaster. Every time I’m hit with that first heavy section it never fails to put the absolute stupidest smile on my face |
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Nearer My God
16. Grand Paradise: But as a song, ultimately I gotta give the lead to my boy “Grand Paradise”. I got into Foxing through Nearer My God (having jammed Dealer once when that was new and mostly just shrugging at it) and it was sort of a slow burn letting my guard down to this odd “electronics meets Modest Mouse meets falsetto vocals” presentation of this track but eventually I got to a point where it gave me what I’d get as a 14 year old listening to “Sowing Season” for the first time (except this is way better). Few things raise my hairs nowadays like that belting of “IM SHOCK COLLARED AT THE GATES OF HEAVEN” that reallllllly kicks this album off |
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Foxing
15. Barking: Even though this list has been sponsored by Draw Down the Moon flavored haterade, it’s oddly a lot of the moments with that album’s DNA on the self titled that are most successful. Shit makes me feel like Goldilocks (and Nearer My God is juuuuust right!). Anyway this hook is fuckin money that bassline is fuckin money, this succeeds for me where “Cleaning” doesn’t by being a little vaguer with it’s lyrics, so the ones that are more pointeny relevant cut like a goddamn knife. Have really found this to be one of the album’s most enduring on repeated jams (well two weeks in lmao) |
| 15 | | Foxing
Nearer My God
14. Lich Prince: That chorus shoots for the fucking MOON godDAMN do I even need to say anything more? I do actually because that might not even be as sick as that final I FEEL LIKE A HOUSEPLAAAAAAANT where the whole song goddamn explodes. |
| 14 | | Foxing
Foxing
13. Kentucky McDonald’s: One of the coolest and most gripping buildups in their discog, this song almost feels like it gets hijacked the further it goes on. The level of control they have on how seamlessly they let in the chaos in on this track is really breathtaking, and it is easily my favorite of the more intense songs here |
| 13 | | Foxing
Nearer My God
12. Gameshark: I ripped through all of Nearer My God fresh as a first listen so I didn’t get to experience the “what the fuck” headspin of getting this as a single, but dropped in the LP’s context it’s an exhilirating change of pace that really amps up the tension and panic, cut into glorious banger form |
| 12 | | Foxing
Foxing
11. Gratitude: I fuckin love this song, I think a little less than everybody else as it’s chorus which i like and is catchy sounds a little tossed off the dome to me, but that’s fine since I still think it colossally rips overall. Definitely one of the band’s strongest displays of interlocked chemistry within each other where they practically all trade off being the highlight member of the moment until the production sorta blurs them all together and consumes them, which to me, is sick as hell. |
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Nearer My God
10. Lambert: After living in the background of the album, Conor’s low range finally steps out of the shadows and takes the spotlight in a really gripping pairing with the gentle, subdued pads that pair with the rhythm in an almost Sleep Well Beast fashion that makes it feel like you’re lost out looking out into the sky as the sun is starting to rise. That’s all before a Bloc Party/U2 esque climax pours in and the sky regains all its color again, in one of the most cinematic closers I’ve heard a band of their ilk pull off. |
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Dealer
9. Eiffel: This is the song where I see the clearest throughline between it and Nearer My God musically, and it’s easily the most effective payoff and swell from their early days. Jon’s particularly a goddamn king here laying down absolute thunder when the song calls for it, and it still stands as one of their most striking moments even by the standards of their later material. |
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Nearer My God
8. Bastardizer: As I mentioned when talking about “Heartbeats” briefly, one of Nearer My God’s biggest strengths to me is how brilliantly it flips the dread of Side A on its head for a musically brighter side B, and “Bastardizer” embodies this. Everything from those f u c k i n bagpipes to the borderline heartland rock vibes to that glorious vocal coda sounds like goddamn sunlight to me (contrary to uh the lyrics). |
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Foxing
7. Spit: I haven’t really brought him up much in this list but their new bassist is fuckin SICK. Even if the self-titled isn’t my favorite album from the band, I do think this period is the most I’ve ever been able to distinctly tell what everybody brings to the band, and their chemistry absolutely rules (even if they clawed their way for this album to happen). And he absolutely muuuurders “Spit”, laying an absolutely fat groove down that slots perfectly into the drums, which themselves also gel perfectly with the industro-production that almost make his drums sound like twisting gears as it progresses. And for an album of theirs that strays pretty far away from going for hooks, this chorus refuses to leave its residency in my head. |
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Nearer My God
6. Won’t Drown: Although Nearer My God was a little out of my depth when it first came out, this song pretty immediately hit me and was my pick for number 1 Foxing song for years and years. While it’s uh, evidently not that anymore lol, it’s essentially fusing the darker shades of Side A with the structuring of Side B and sort of feels like the most representative track to me of this album’s appeal in a way. The production leads the string to sound fractured and cracked, Conor lays some of his best melodies at every turn, and balances his falsetto and full voice tremendously as the drums and guitars swell. |
| 6 | | Foxing
Foxing
5. Greyhound: In a post Draw Down the Moon world, I knew better than to jam a goddamn 8 minute lead single in case the rest of the record couldn’t match it. Fortunately it isn’t *the* main highlight here, but it’s definitely one of them, and threads together some gorgeous Cure-isms and Alchemy Index Thrice-isms which both pair well with how lost the lyrics are and feel very refreshing amidst in the album’s noisy context before the song becomes completely devoured and consumed by noise that borderline makes it feel like the entire ocean floor pours into whatever space your in, be it a room or a meadow outdoors. They attempt those transitions a lot on the album and that’s the most vivid and exciting instance they’ve ever pulled that off for me, before launching into a coda that almost skews Conor’s vocals in a way that recalls some of the skittering synths of “Trapped in Dillard’s” |
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Draw Down the Moon
4. Speak With the Dead: I didn’t jam Draw Down the Moon until they started rolling the self-titled album out, and for the most part that was probably a good thing for my relationship with this band. It may not be what I look for in the band (if ya couldn’t tell), but I respect it at least and I think that was easier to do with it already being in the rear view. I am particularly glad I didn’t jam this early as a lead single, because it toppled me out of my seat when I finally hit this album in context. A sequel track to “Five Cups” not just lyrically, but flipping the massive, sprawling, tense scope of that song into a brighter, borderline triumphant sounding track. This is Jon’s best song for sure, laying down one of the most explosive drum performances I’ve heard in their scene, and the horns elevate it even further with a dramatic, bombastic swell. The level of control they wield throughout this track is just all around absolutely insane. |
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Nearer My God
3. Nearer My God: The title track off of Nearer My God is probably the most succinct display of linear songwriting in their career so far. This could have been a U2 song melodically (a good thing!) yet remarkably fits perfectly within this record. I think keeping this song a little more straight emphasizes the lyrics better, and changing up the syllabic spacing in the final verse only makes the “unfollowing my dead friends” section the more powerful. |
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Nearer My God
2. Five Cups: The most sprawling, cinematic, explorative, and uncompromising track in Foxing’s catalog, and also one of their more polarizing as a result. Have noticed that people either seem to think this is one of the most brilliant things they’ve ever heard or is boring, aimless, and sucks ass, and if you couldn’t tell, I am veerrrrrrry much the former. Pretty much every fabric of this song blows me away and I hang on to all of it, from the heartbeat backdrop, to the skittering percussion that enters halfway into the first chorus, to the hell-raising car crash esque payoff that genuinely caught me off guard first jam, to the reversed pianos that dissolve into the background like smoke from rubble into the sky, to even the horns holding the haunting major second interval that fades the song out, it’s like the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to hearing a song die, and given the themes of depression and suicidality in the lyrics makes this one always put a lump in my throat |
| 2 | | Foxing
Foxing
1. Hall of Frozen Heads: Foxing’s self titled only came out two weeks ago at the time of me writing this list, so by all accounts it’s probably too early to be doing this, but the album tiered itself out very very clearly for me right off the bat and that hasn’t really changed after the like 40 jams I’ve given of it. In a way, it not being their most consistent album is kind of fitting for a self titled album for a band who radically changes their own identity so drastically with each album, but good lord when it hits it’s ceiling it’s some of the strongest material I’ve ever heard from the band, and that all peaks with penultimate track “Hall of Frozen Heads”. This song all around maps itself phenomenally, winding itself around an odd chord progression giving it a strong sense of mysticism, further highlighted by an icy reversed sample in the backdrop, but dropping all of the noisiness gives the album a really well earned moment to breathe |
| 1 | | Foxing
Foxing
It also puts the lyrics front and center which are to me the most interesting and evocative that Conor wrote for the album, if not ever. What also sells this song further for me is how it breaks down its mysticism and gradually becomes one of the most disarmingly beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. This is particularly true of that final verse in which on every level is my favorite minute of Foxing ever. Shit makes it feel like god himself is reaching his hand down into my soul. I’m probably always gonna be a Nearer My God truther til I die but goddamn did they tap into something magical here |
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