Album Review: Foals - Antidotes

Originally published May 07, 2008 in The Orion

Foals
Antidotes
Sub Pop Records, 2008
3/5 stars

Foals' debut album plays out like a sad tale on the dance floor.

The band from Oxford England, follows the lead of Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys with a subtle yet powerful dance-punk sound. The instrumentation is sleek and bright, but the album has an alarming sense of nostalgia. Lead singer and guitarist Yannis Philippakis adds tension with exerted and alert vocals.

Despite the melancholy mood, "Antidotes" is undoubtedly dance party material with screeching guitars, stirring bass lines, spacey keyboards and chipping cymbals. The sporadic use of trumpet, trombone and saxophone stretches out songs to give them a lot of breathing room and allow listeners to indulge in the music.

While songs such as "Cassius" are exciting and catchy, most songs on "Antidotes" sound solitary.

Foals is off to a great start, but needs to add more personality.