Review Summary: "Take the bed or burn in hell"
“Do you want me at all？” is a lyric on the title track of Foxing’s third LP, Nearer My God. These words also work as a question to the bands audience. On Nearer My God Foxing created a record that challenges themselves and their listeners, sonically, lyrically, and technically. Foxing have created their most complex and daring record while still making something accessible and relatable.
The first thing you notice when pressing play on the record is just how sonically dense it is going to be. On the albums opener, “Grand Paradise,” you are immediately hit with piano chords, a palm muted guitar, and lots of ambient sound. The song then unexpectedly explodes into a full blown rock song about a quarter of the way through. It is at that moment that you realize that the band is not going to be pulling any punches with this record. Throughout the album they use different techniques and instrumentation such as, string swells (Heartbeats, Won’t Drown), chopped up vocal lines and falsettos (Slapstick, Gameshark) Horns (Five Cups) layered keyboard (Lich Prince, Trapped in Dillard’s) and even bagpipes (Bastardizer). These techniques allow the band to push the songs to limits outside that of the standard rock band ensemble. Which plays a big part as to why the album feels so sonically original.
My favorite track on the record is “Five Cups”. At over nine minutes long the song shows everything that the band is striving for in their sound with this record. Sonically it starts with a very simple guitar line reminiscent of something that you may have found on their last record Dealer. It then builds into something much more dynamic as the song enters into a brilliant chorus layered in harmonies, with vocalist Conor Murphy singing “I want to drive, with my eyes closed.” After the second chorus the song then explodes into a heavier bridge that feels like it’s exactly where the song should go. As a listener it is at this moment you start to feel that you know exactly what the song is going to do, and then it comes to what feels like a sudden end. This end is then extended 4 more minutes as the band works in reversed guitar effects, ambient noise, and layered vocals and horns, to create one of the most beautiful moments of the bands career. This outro is unlike anything I have ever heard, and is exactly the type of risks bands should be taking with their sound in 2018.
The way that Foxing uses strings as a sonic texture is extremely important to this records sound. The band doesn’t simply just use them as background pads for their sound, but uses them as a tool to create tension and release. In the song “Won’t Drown,” there is a bridge that feels like an outro to the song, with softly plucked acoustic guitars with string swells interwoven into the parts. At the moment when it feels like the song is going to end, the string section uses what’s called a “scratch tone” to build up to the final chorus. A scratch tone is when a string player creates a scratching sound on their instrument by applying very hard pressure from their bows to their strings. This effect feels like it blows the final chorus out of the water and gives the song a fantastic ending.
Foxing have said that the lyrical themes on Nearer My God were drawn heavily from the current state of the world around them. The feeling that the apocalypse is closer than it has ever been before. On “Won’t Drown” Conor sings about the feeling of not being able to escape this world, “Mouth open, for rain pinching, your nose pinching, to wake yourself from hell, but your knees, glued to the floor, anchored in fear, roots in the wolves that split their life into you.” A powerful opening to the penultimate track that sets the stage for one of the most epic songs on the record.
It is said that the last song that was played on the sinking Titanic was “Nearer, My God, to Thee”. This traditional hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, tells the story of Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:11-12. The lyrics of the hymn very much allude to being closer to death and how death brings us closer to God. It is fitting that Foxing chose this title mainly for two reasons. First, the title is referenced in two different songs, “Gameshark” and the title track “Nearer My God.” Both of these songs are connected with a clip of the hymn, which helps these very two different sounding songs feel connected. Second, one of the biggest themes lyrically on this record are death. Whether its suicide (Gameshark), mourning the loss of someone (Bastardizer), or questions as to what happens when we go (Trapped in Dillard’s), death is not something that Conor shies away from on the record.
On Heartbeats Conor sings, “They said, ‘Come on and get off the bridge and we can take the cameras down’ when all you really want is somewhere between here and the ground.” This line beautifully paints the mind of someone who is going through a very personal moment potentially before their death. One of my favorite lyrical passages of the record comes towards the end of “Lambert.” Here Connor sings, “I spent so long at the gates, heaven won’t take me in, and I threw up so many times on the way, Heaven won’t take me in.” Again Connor is singing about how we spend our whole life making ourselves sick in order to be good enough for God, and then in the end it still may not be enough.
With a record so sonically ambitious it can be difficult to still create melodies that stick with your audience. Nearer My God has some of the bands catchiest melodies to date. The chorus to Heartbeats promises to be stuck in your head for days with the held out trill of the word “love.” Since the release of the first single (Slapstick) I have not been able to get the songs lyrics, “no more sun, no more light, shine through,” out of my head. “Trapped in Dillard’s melodic line,” But it won’t work like that, cause nothing works like that,” is guaranteed to be a fan favorite. There are even non lyrical parts on the record that are incredible catchy such as the almost R&B like falsettos on “Lich Prince,” or the haunting background vocals in the chorus to “Gameshark”.
The vocal performances on this record are absolutely stunning. Lead vocalist, Conor Murphy, shows his four octave vocal abilities throughout the record. The song that best highlights this best is the albums closer, “Lambert”. The song starts with Connor almost whispering in his lowest range over an electronic pad, very reminiscent of the band The National. As the song crescendos he then takes that same vocal melody up the octave to build with the song, by the time the song is about to explode into its final section he his belting out at the top of his range. Conor effectively uses this technique throughout the record to create crescendos with the band. Another challenging song vocally is “Gameshark,” here Conor is using his falsetto range almost entirely throughout the song. In the bridge before the third verse of the song Conor holds out a very high note in falsetto, just when you think he can’t take it any higher he pushes the note up even further.
The guitar work on Nearer My God, is absolutely stunning. On “Lich Prince,” we are given the first true guitar solo of Foxing’s career and it is incredible. The solo is set up incredibly well by the vocals as he repeats, “I feel like a house plant” over and over until he finally screams it right before the solo. The guitar solo then enters the song with fantastic motion. The notes feel frantic while still sounding extremely clean. The soloist then moves into a more steady melodic line while hitting just the right notes that capture the true essence of the song.
Not all of the guitar work on the record is as obvious but a lot of it is equally as brilliant. A great example of this is the tapping guitar technique used on “Slapstick.” The effect on the guitar gives it an electronic sound, that if you haven’t seen them perform the song live you may not even know it was played on guitar. Another brilliant use of guitar is on the song “Bastardizer.” This song uses layered arpeggios and chords to create a great folk soundscape to back up the songs incredible vocal melody.
From simply a songwriting standpoint the band shows maturity throughout the record. The first song that comes to mind is the trippy “Crowned Candy”. Here the band takes traditionally music harmony and flips it on its head. The chords feel altered just enough that they feel both original and accessible. It’s the vocal melody that ties this song together, as the melodic notes that Conor chooses to sing beautifully captures the harmony of the song coming together. It took me a few listens to really put together what was happening musically with this song, it challenged me in a way that few songs have and once I put it together it became one of my favorite songs on the record.
With Nearer My God Foxing have put together one of the most captivating indie rock records of 2018. With this record the band have taken a giant leap forward in their sound and have proven to be one of the heavy hitters of the scene moving forward. To answer their question, “do you want me at all”? The answer is yes, Foxing, we absolutely do want you for as long as you continue to make music.
