"Life Is Yours": Foals are back with their 6th album

Arriving at the tail-end of the era when indie bands could infiltrate the Top 40 singles chart, Foals were initially unlikely contenders for the mainstream. Emerging from the highbrow math-rock scene, the Oxford quintet at least played wild and celebratory gigs to enhance the more tuneful aspects of 2008’s fidgety debut album Antidotes, which is reissued on recycled vinyl on the same day as Life Is Yours. Ever since, Foals have kept the intricate musicianship, but utilized it in search of the ultimate smart funk workout.

That hasn’t always worked: despite the title track’s phenomenal groove, much of 2015’s self-conscious What Went Down was like George Michael with a 2:2 in sports science. Having explored all their styles on 2019’s enjoyably sprawling two- part epic Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, the band - now down to a trio after keyboardist Edwin Congreave left during early album sessions to take a post-grad economics degree - have settled on what seems the ideal path. Forget growing old gracefully, Foals’ sixth record is up for it and chasing the simple pleasures.

Despite working with a team of producers for the first time, Foals’ sound is at its most cohesive since punchy third album Holy Fire. Although recording began during the winter lockdown of 2020, the trio encapsulate escapist yearning brilliantly, whether for chaotic nights out on 2am or for summer travels in 2001, whose abandoned party mood earns the joyful outro its own interlude track as (Summer Sky). Yannis Phillippakis’ singing is richer than ever, duetting with himself in dazzling fashion on The Sound, where his falsetto and gruffer register do battle on a visceral guitar pop assault. Throughout, Jimmy Smith’s choppy guitars keep Philippakis’ vocals taut, equal parts Ze Records tight funk and imperious Talking Heads pop. Although he still doesn’t have a full- time bassist to bounce off since Walter Gervers' departure in 2018, Jack Bevan's fluid drumming is adept, a powerhouse storm on the title track and enticingly disco on Flutter. Only the routine thud of Getting High fails among the euphoria elsewhere, with lead single Wake Me Up matched by the closing Wild Green for a fantastic example of a band still out to cut loose, when most of their peers have entered the reflective and thoughtful stage of their career.

Although their intense image is of a band who are never satisfied, always yearning for the next step up, Foals deserve to bask in accomplishing their most complete and exciting album. After 15 years, that’s a rare achievement.