Foals' Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 wakes up anxiety

Foals only stepped halfway through their ambitious double album with "Everything Not Saved Will

Be Lost: Part 1."

The band is now widely known thanks to their hits like My Number or Mountain at My Gates. After the departure of their bassist Walter Gervers, the Oxford’s band gave its groove a different zip with a more synthetic directive and analogue synthesiser-driven bass lines. The band used to be the symbol of a generation with sold-out crowds. However, this fifth album seems incomplete and the split is quite sensible: the Part 2 is missing. The anxiety of seeing the world dying without acting for change, a political dissatisfaction and mental health problems are the driven guideline of their new songs.

From the lead and rock single, Exits, emerged the paranoia of watching the planet dying: "There are no birds left to fly." Even the title refers to a lack of space and a need to escape, contrasting with cheerful instrumentation. We hear later in Syrups that "sand dunes fill up all our towns" and that "robots have made the rounds." How can a post-apocalyptic world album be a good sign? Nothing in Foals’ music let us see a new and better horizon. In Degrees, the ability to talk to each other is lost as the vocals seems to take a step back from the instruments. The funky percussions and the addition of the synth keys denote with the ambience of the album and bring the rockers back to their roots.

Every song in its own way tackles the ecological disaster the earth is experiencing and, produce a kind of malaise for the audience. The speed of the bass, the guitars and the piano of White Onions need to breathe and act in urgency as Yannis Philippakis’ "ooh ooh" become a "lair" where everyone must go. It’s a call to fight for what you want and the lyrics "I fight for air"/ "I break the cage," will be chanted in stadiums for sure. Sunday is rather chill and enjoyable music with still this heavy theme where we learn that "The birds are all singing 'It's the end of the world’." It is balanced by a groovy rhythmic of the guitar waking your ears up with a little distortion.

Foals has set up an uncanny, anxious and even a lamented atmosphere in this album, "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost: Part 2" is due this fall, be prepared there’s more to follow!