Foxing – ‘Nearer My God’

Success is relative. You can be in one of the biggest bands in the world and still be miserable, or you can be in a band who are struggling yet still be having the time of your life making the music you want to make, content in the knowledge that the people who listen are the ones who care.

Seven years on from their formation out of the ashes of post-rock band Hunter Gatherer, neither scenario quite fits Foxing, but they still consider themselves lucky to have got to where they now find themselves: in the position of a band who have stopped caring about what people might want them to be, and are instead focused on what they both can and could be. “I’d sell my soul to be America’s pool boy, the crown centrefold / My few good years left / A tribute to anyone who wants me at all / Does anybody want me at all?” front man Conor Murphy asks on the title track of their third album, that nagging question forming the song’s surging chorus and bringing the question of artistic integrity into sharp focus.

Maybe not everybody wants him, but clearly the right people do. Led by Murphy’s impressive vocal ability, the quartet made the jump to Triple Crown – a label with considerable heft whose stature has grown further in recent years – within months of their debut LP ‘The Albatross’ being released towards the end of 2013. Follow-up ‘Dealer’ dialled up the intensity of their sound and allowed them to take their searing live show to places they could only have dreamed of months prior.

Then, in a manner of speaking, things hit the skids for a bit; at the end of 2016 they were left reeling from a van crash towards the end of that year’s tour, and by the end of 2017 founding member Josh Coll had left the band to pursue his filmmaking career. He was involved in the creation of ‘Nearer My God’, though – a record dense enough that Foxing will need several extra pairs of hands to do it justice in a live setting.

Hooking up with Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie member turned in-demand producer) to record a cover of Dido’s ‘White Flag’ in the wake of their van being totalled ended up being a fortuitous pairing. As far as they were concerned, they’d work with nobody else when it came to taking the songs they’d workshopped across Europe and whipping them into shape for their new record. Making a conscious effort to capture their live sound on record, the band’s latest offering is an hour of dizzying ambition and the sort of musical scope that puts a good number of their peers to shame.

Kicking off with the jittery electronic pulse of ‘Grand Paradise’, the record offers precious little respite from there on out. While there are traces of their previous work audible on the likes of ‘Lich Prince’—which dips in and out of Muse-like histrionics and proggy diversions when it’s not playing up the band’s indie rock sensibilities—and lead single ‘Slapstick’ (a song of two halves: the first heavy on R&B influences filtered through a typical rock band setup, and the second moving firmly into noise-rock territory), the majority of the record is a whole new ballgame.

‘Gameshark’ and ‘Crown Candy’ are prime examples of how ‘Nearer My God’ can surprise even the most open-minded listeners, with Murphy’s vastly improved vocal range allowed to take centre stage over multi-layered musical backdrops, twisting chord progressions and gritty riffs. ‘Five Cups’, meanwhile, is a nine-minute atmospheric trip that does away with traditional song structure by its halfway point. The album’s not so much a hard sell as it is the work of a band putting all their cards on the table; the diversity across its 12 tracks is such that even if you couldn’t get on board with any of the singles, you’ll find enough sticks by the end of your first listen that you’ll be tempted back for another go.

Taken as a whole, the record can seem overwhelming, but each of its songs has plenty to offer. If you can avoid getting stuck on the magnificent, string-drenched offbeat pop of ‘Heartbeats’ or the grandiose sweep of penultimate track ‘Won’t Drown’, the album’s back half proves to be just as strong as its first. Foxing have always written albums meant to be listened from start to finish, and this is no exception. It’s the kind of record they went all out on because they knew they’d only get one shot at making it, and now that it has been made, they’ve opened up so many avenues that could be explored on future albums.

The possibilities stretching out before them are equal parts daunting and electrifying, much like the record that’s paved the way for them. You owe it to yourself to give ‘Nearer My God’ the time it deserves.