Review: Foals – Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part One

Foals are back and in stunning fashion with Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part One. Our verdict is in on the follow up to 2015’s What Went Down.

Foals return with new album details — Our verdict is in on Foals fifth album, *Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part One*.

Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost is beautifully layered with synths, rippling bassline and catchy hooks. They ease you in on ‘Moonlight’, then rudely awaken you with lead single ‘Exits’. Then they shake you some more with the audacious ‘White Onions’, setting the tone for the rest of the album.

Lyrically, frontman Yannis Philippakis, is sharper than ever, taking swipes at current affairs on ‘Exits’; “I said I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting round, I wish I could come up and shout it out loud. They got exits covered, all the exits underground, I wish I could figure it out but the world’s upside down…”. Then he’ll reflect so poignantly on the closing track on the tiring toll life can take sometimes on ‘I’m Done With The World (& It’s Done With Me)’, “I’m done with the world and it’s done with me… all I want to do is get up and leave… time falls into the garden, I’m on my knees…”.

There are so many stand out moments, with ‘Sunday’ creating a euphoric atmosphere. It triumphantly achieves its goal, taking the listener away from the heaviness of everyday life. While ‘On The Luna’ creates such a vibrant and child-like kind of goofy fun feeling.

They create such serene moments like on the hypnotic ‘Cafe D’Athens’, which is like an indie lullaby.

What makes Foals so great is that now five albums in, they continue to keep it fresh. Yet while keeping it fresh, they somehow still sound distinctively like Foals. ThroughoutEverything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part One,they remind you, “we’re really good at what we do” and then do something different as if to say, “we’re even better than what you thought we were”. They’re doing that 11 years in and five albums deep.

The Oxford outfit have found a perfect balance of loud and peaceful. It makes you take a moment to realise, this is only half the picture, with part two due out this autumn.