Foxygen is a breathe of fresh air.
It’s no surprise that the two shows they have booked for May in NYC are already sold out. People are gasping for more. They figured out the perfect formula to this current disaster of a genre. Finally, the kitschy aspect comes to the forefront again and we’re able to exhale. The pressure of listening to a band compiled of douchebags lifts. The stress of being associated with people pretentious enough to say things that are absurd and serious at the same time fades. These San Franciscans get it.
Their sophmore album, We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic, kicks ass. It’s very 70’s and yet very current. They must see this connection, too and they beat us to making fun of it. Check out their video for “San Francisco” to see for yourself. I’m not sure what’s more tacky: the wallpaper, their outfits or their quirky facial expressions. Somehow, it works.
Maybe it’s the talent behind the “act” that really makes it function properly as indie rock. They clearly went for the Bowie approach as apposed to the Passion Pit approach. They kept it retro on almost all nine tracks.
Each song features Sam France’s beautiful vocals that seem to flow so naturally from him. It’s never forced and always spirited. He could make someone want to stick a flower in a cop’s gun at the Gathering of the Juggalos. The man is gifted.
Jonathan Rado’s keyboards add a certain softness to balance out the guitars and make it nothing less than soulful. Richard Swift’s production seals the package that the duo created with a big bow in the form of claps, horns, strings, etc. Without his packaging, Foxygen’s sound might be considered a rip-off The Beatles or the Velvet Underground. He keeps it interesting and fresh by surprising your ears when they start to get bored.
Like surprises? Check out “Shuggie.”. “But you don’t love me? That’s news to me” is apathetically sung/spoken right before the tempo changes and a chorus of sound and emotion takes its place. “If you believe in yourself you can free your soul / My heart is breaking in two and I don’t know what to do” leaves almost no trace of the denial of lost love. The transitions and the subjective mood changes are seamless and story-like. The song ends with “If I’m happy, she’s happy” giving the story one final twist.
“On Blue Mountain” switches things up, too. After the warm up in the first verse, you start really hiking upward and the tempo takes off. It’s suddenly irresistibly catchy. It’s positive without being obnoxious. It takes us from “I was looking at the Bible” to “I was climbing up Blue Mountain” to “We can live on Blue Mountain, like living in a sunset / We can live honestly and true.” Next thing you know, you’re shimmying and nodding your head (even to these lyrics, yes). It’s funky. Be warned.
The question is: Can Foxygen keep this up?
Will they run out of reinventions of the past and become copy-cat poser filth? Do we really don’t want another MGMT on our hands?
The answer is no. We need Foxygen to stay cool and to realize what we love about them. We don’t want regurgitated sounds from the 70’s. We want a new take on an old sound that adds modern influence where we’ve yet to see it. We want to laugh at their cutesy music videos.
We want to listen to the crowd favorite song “No Destruction” and with a smirk and a smile. We want to wail the lyrics: “San Francisco /Oh you think it’s over /Oh you think it’s over to me/ Someone who smokes pot in the subway / Pot in the subway, to me / Oh, Destructo, you’re so destructive /Oh, you’re so destructive to me.”
We don’t want another epic arena band to forefront some festival. We want to listen to Foxygen in our smoke-filled basements, as our friends ask, “Who is this? This is awesome.”
Leigh Greaney can be reached at lgreaney@thoughtpollution.com.