Constant sound changes, but with hints of their old sound still resonating throughout has become the mantra for music from the Oxford quintet turned quartet, and this album is the most drastic turn away from the sounds of festival hit ‘My Number’, but with eerie lyrics similar to that of ‘What Went Down,’ this album provides a perfect mix, demonstrating itself as the best Foals album to date.

Straight away the tone for the album is set with the soft, yet eerie, tone on the opening track ‘Moonlight.’ Oddly enough, front man Yannis Phillipakis starts the song sounding very much like Morrissey, with the bleak lyrics adhering to this, which depending on your opinions towards Morrissey, is either a good thing or a bad thing. After that is over, the real fun begins, with second track and the first single released by the band in preparation for the album’s release, ‘Exits.’ The first of many warnings about the state of the world both politically and environmentally appears here, with the song opening with Phillipakis uttering the words ‘Now the sea eats the sky, but they say it’s a lie,’ subtly taking a dig at those who deny climate change, without aggressively attacking them . The band themselves said this song was very similar to ‘Sledgehammer’ by Peter Gabriel, which is a fair statement, but this song is much more complex than that. Sections like the outro combine an intricate amount of sounds to create a complex yet brilliant sound. This song is very much the epitome of this albums message, with lyrics seeming very negative towards the future, but the music itself evokes hope.

The next song is ‘White Onions’ which although the album has a change in direction musically, this is one of the songs that stands out as having striking similarities to older Foals songs. It has an excellent guitar intro, but its when the bass kicks in that this songs becomes fantastic. From there you hear ‘In Degrees,’ a song that touches on deteriorating relationships as a result of time and distance. Much like its predecessor, this is another song where the bass stands out. If anything, it is this song that the band uses as a Trojan horse to get in their warning and their thoughts about the state of the world, disguised within the upbeat nature of the music.

‘Syrups’ is next up, which seems like the most bass and drum driven song on the album, which in the process cements the album as an amazing mix of sounds. The intensity of the drums and the bass on this track keep the theme of contrast between lyrics and tempo, with Phillipakis using the phrase ‘radio silence all the way down’ to create a melancholic tone. What comes next is easily one of the best songs on the record, ‘On The Luna.’ I find it appropriate that a song that at one point had a working title of ‘End of Days,’ to have a reoccurring line of ‘Trump clogging up my computer,’ which much like the climate change dig earlier teases a political statement, without making it clear. The song discusses boredom, but also the speakers anxiety towards the state of the world, as Phillipakis regularly sings ‘I’m worried all day, all day.’

After fast nature of the album’s opening two thirds, track number 7, ‘Cafe D’athens’ sounds like an easily forgettable, slow song on its own, but when listened to within the context of the full album serves as a nice little break from the chaos of upbeat songs like ‘In Degrees’ and ‘On the Luna,’ returning to the eerie sound. Then, a short, 50 second instrumental titled ‘Surf, Pt. 1’ plays, hitting you with a slight bit of build, but just beofre it ends you hear a slight explosion of sound, but it is cut and ends straight away. It gives you enough to not question its purpose, but gives you little enough to the point that you are left wanting more.

NME described the next track, ‘Sunday,’ as ‘FunkPunk,’ a song that tells the touching story of a young person at the end of the world. The song is almost 6 minutes, and the first 3 minutes and 20 seconds create a certain feeling within you, the calmness of it makes you picture sitting on a beach on holiday, but all it takes is one look at the lyrics for this to end and realise this is just another piece of Foals’ plan to warn us on the state of the world. After the 3 minute and 20 second mark however, you are pulled right out of the beach and dumped in a dance club, and the beat picks right up. But its all just another ploy, the words ‘It’s the end of the world are repeated’ and we are thrown back into a new section of the song, something that seems to be a mix of the previous two. It seems like the perfect set closer for a live show, with the idea of the whole crowd singing along with the outro being all I can focus on whilst listening to the ending, being one of those songs that means you cant help but think about and reflect on the past 90 minutes of your life. But we’re not done yet, the closing song on the album, which from the title ‘I’m Done With The World (& It’s Done With Me)’ could be mistaken for a song by the 1975, is a simple, yet suitable ending to the album, with it seeming to be Phillapakis’ last call for hope, ending the album and looking to Part 2 with the line ‘I’m on my knees.’ One last call for help it seems.

Overall, this album is nothing short of incredible. The band do their best to warn us on the state of the world both environmentally and politically, but they do it in a way to subtly dig, not to try and inform anybodies views. And it they way they take these digs that is most fascinating, they disguise it within layers of intricate sounds and have created brilliant music. It’s a different sound, but it’s a great sound, and this combined with Phillipakis’ vocals sounding better than ever, it makes for incredibly enjoyable listening.

Songs to listen to: ‘Exits,’ ‘On the Luna’ and ‘In Degrees’

Overall Rating: 5/5