Foxwarren return with new single ‘Listen2me’
Winning a dedicated fanbase with their earthy folk rock on 2018’s eponymous debut, Canadian quintet Foxwarren have decided to confound expectations for sophomore effort 2—out May 30th via ANTI—and embrace a fervent immersion into psych at its warmest and sunkissed. While subtle heady flourishes on cuts like ‘Lost on You’ and ‘Everything Apart’ were present, the embrace of a sampler has opened up a new sonic playground for the band to muck about in.
Eschewing the conventional recording technique of all playing in the same room, each Foxwarren member across four different provinces would upload song snippets or melodic demos over to frontman Andy Shauf who then crafted a moasic of each piece into a colourful pathwork of collage indie—kept in check by weekly online meetings.
This assemblage approach deploys an intriguing new direction for Foxwarren. Indeed, the cyber nature of the whole thing might even point towards a new direction for music, period. 2 is an LP that looks set to exist with a strange scientific approach of separating the band’s musical parts, analysing the spaces in between, and artfully mishmashing back together.
A clue to Foxwarren’s long-distance process can be heard in the lead single ‘Listen2me’. Scoring a lover’s tiff with tumbling piano and understated roots rock, ‘Listen2me’ captures Shauf’s knack for easy melody and gentle hook that’s come to be expected from the mellow songmsith.
The song rolls along pleasingly enough, carried by the cheerful energy of old friends nearing their two decades in comradely music making but not boasting any major surprises.
It’s the sampler’s handiwork which gifts the track its latent trippy energy. Once the earthy breeze starts to waver in a sluggish lull, in pop, an eerie string section coupled with disquiet keyboard hums throws the whole affair into flux. Coated in a pleasing rock crescendo, the song’s staid and arid danger is thankfully pulled into a wry plane of drama—spiking the closing line “Once I open my mouth / You’ll see how sharp I really am” with a pugilistic mirth.
It’s apparent that 2‘s novel stitchwork of samples and musical ideas are what’s breathed the most life into ‘Listen2me’. With its artful collaging serving as the main star of the show, here’s hoping the awaited second album matches the fun of their smattered samples but exceeds their humdrum indie foundations.
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