Foals – Antidotes

• 18th Apr 2008

Well, it’s been over a year since super posh, fairly brainy and pretty much ace at all things electronic Foals, got me into such a fever that I almost went delirious. Now, with some coherency regained, the Oxford quintet have finally come to the rescue and given me the Antidotes.

At last, they’ve let me into their world of robotic post punk and repetitive vocals only to leave me feeling like they have a secret that they’re not letting the rest of us in on. I’m at a musical crossroads and I can’t quite decide which way to go; I’m almost totally enjoying this record, which features the singles ‘Cassius’, and ‘Balloons’ but, it’s an awkward struggle in places to hit the right emotional buttons. It’s so perfect that you can’t form a relationship with it. You’ll be sorry if you pin all you romantic hopes on this one – it’s so polished that if you tried to hug it, you’d just slip right off.

It’s a bit like the when you get a great baddie in a James Bond film, and they play their part so well that you swiftly move onto their side for a bit, but then of course you can’t trust that team for too long because their accents are all funny and they have the silliest haircuts and ugliest pets (I don’t know if the band have ugly pets but I’d bet you my last Rolo that actually, they really do). So eventually, you have to come back over to the good side.

Depending on your patience level, this record will either become instantly addictive or quickly annoying. Although I’m leaning more towards camp A on that one, I’ve not been seduced by it yet. That’s a shame because the singles on offer had me hooked. Put it all together though, and it doesn’t flow the way I imagined it might.

Here’s hoping the next album is a little less strategic and a little more life like.