Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 review: Big plans that crackle with confidence

Expansive: Foals
David Smyth18 October 2019

By releasing their second album in seven months, Oxford’s Foals have managed to hark back to the past as well as tap into modern musical times. A double album brings gravitas and invites comparison with epics of yore — Blonde on Blonde, The White Album, Exile on Main St. However, it also suits the streaming era’s strategy for music consumption — lots of the stuff, released as often as possible.

So the indie rock quartet have something in common with Ariana Grande, who recently made huge successes out of two separate albums six months apart, and Taylor Swift, whose Lover was practically a double at 18 tracks.

Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 doubled Foals’s monthly Spotify listeners to five million earlier this year, as well as securing a Mercury nomination. It puts them in a strong position as they release a sister album that’s heavier and crackling with confidence.

Black Bull is as intimidating as the beast of its title, frontman Yannis Philippakis bellowing from the speakers over glowering riffing. The pent-up energy of Wash Off is exhilaratingly released in its second half. While Part 1 was more electronic, a bit groovier, here the weighty dirge of 10,000 Feet sits next to serious piano ballad Into the Surf and the 10-minute prog-rock conclusion, Neptune.

Where they could have been indulgent, Foals have given every facet of their musical style space to breathe this year. Nothing sounds like it’s here to make up the numbers. This big plan has succeeded

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