- Release Info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
Artist: Foxing
Album: Dealer
Label: Triple Crown Records
Playtime: 45:16 min
Genre: Indie
URL:
Rip date: 2015-11-12
Street date: 2015-11-06
Size: 79.94 MB
Type: Normal
Quality: 235 kbps / 4410Hz / Joint Stereo
- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
"The Albatross became a self-fulfilling prophecy for Foxing. While the St.
Louis band's relentless touring enabled the slow-build success of their debut,
the aching opening track on Dealer recounts the effect of Conor Murphy having
to repeat ugly truths about himself night after night for the better part of
two years: "I am caught up in the guilt/ Making a living off of drowning."
Though Dealer is an artistic triumph and a significant advance from The
Albatross, it's even heavier, more compositionally complex, and more
personally revealing than its predecessor. And that's why, from its very first
second, Murphy sounds drained over the prospect of doing it all over
againùDealer is not an easy listen. It sounds like it was very difficult to
make, and reliving it is going to be even harder.
It's in Foxing's nature to welcome a challenge. Of all the leading figures in
the Fest-centered post-emo world, they made the most demanding, unique and
self-assured debut. It certainly earned the genre tagùsilvery guitar figures
streaked and twinkled like tiny Explosions in the Sky, while Murphy's keening
vocals delivered confrontational and caustic lyrics with spasmodic,
burst-and-bloom dynamics. To paraphrase the slow-motion self-evisceration of
"Rory" (think the Wrens' "This Is Not What You Had Planned" stretched to four
minutes), he ripped his heart out while it was still beating and shoved it
directly in your face. But Foxing are more interested in a renaissance than a
"revival", and they mirror the adaptive and forward-thinking qualities of
their scene, creating a new voice for familiar sentiments: There was certainly
hints of Cap'n Jazz on Albatross, but also actual jazz, as well as Sufjan
Stevens' baroque Americana and touches of avant-garde R&B.
The Albatross darted fitfully and stretched out in all directions, while
Dealer pulls all of Foxing's influences inward. Inverting his typical role of
making burly post-rock bands sound delicate, producer Matt Bayles (Isis,
Caspian) boosts Foxing's fragilityùDealer is constructed like an expensive
timepiece where you can see every exacting movement behind a thick, glossy
lacquer. Murphy's much-improved vocals negotiate the curvature of "Weave"'s
mournful melody and the band's syncopated swayùimagine what the Chicago
late-'90s post-rock scene could've accomplished if they hooked up with the
guys downstate in Urbana-Champaign. While there were short instrumental
interludes on The Albatross, "Winding Cloth" is a full-on string
orchestration, offering four minutes to absorb the shellshocked war reportage
of "Indica" before segueing into the heavy-hearted poetry of "Redwoods".
Foxing are willing to delay gratification or even deny it entirely if the song
requires it, and on Dealer, it often does. When Murphy and
bassist/co-songwriter Josh Coll take on universal topics like sex, religion
and war, they're framed through discomforting personal experiences: "The
Magdalene" is the most dour song about losing one's virginity since "Sic
Transit GloriaàGlory Fades", drawing on strict Catholic upbringings that
instilled what Coll described as "the internal fear that spirits are in the
room witnessing 'sin' in action": "Mother of God on the rosary/ Is she here
with us?/ Does she want what she sees?" The guilt carries on to the present
day as Murphy becomes choked by the supposedly no-strings hook-ups in "Night
Channels" and "Glass Coughs". Both build up from spare, plaintive
introductions to restrained screams and contained, brassy cacophonyùMurphy
allows you to feel every pang and writhe of guilt, but catharsis is scant.
There's none whatsoever on "Indica", which recounts Coll's time as a soldier
in Afghanistan. Few, if any, indie rock bands have access to this kind of
firsthand experience, but that alone isn't enough to ensure it avoids
"Rooster" or "Support our Troops OH!" overstatement on either end. Aside from
a brief clatter of field snares, there's little but a single, clean guitar and
Murphy's voice catatonic from both PTSD and self-medication: "Could I give
back the sounds of their children's screams?/ Let go of what I've seen?"
Dealer isn't a narrative, but both his civilian and Coll's soldier could share
the exhaustion of closer "Three on a Match"ù"For what we did, my love, I'm
sorry...the Lord won't let me in/ I'm survived by the weight of my own sins."
The devil and God aren't raging inside of Murphy and Coll anymoreùDealer is
the arduous post-war reconstruction."
- Track List ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
01. Weave ( 3:24)
02. The Magdalene ( 4:01)
03. Night Channels ( 4:17)
04. Laundered ( 4:33)
05. Indica ( 4:47)
06. Winding Cloth ( 4:32)
07. Redwoods ( 3:29)
08. Glass Coughs ( 3:38)
09. Eiffel ( 4:11)
10. Coda ( 3:18)
11. Three On A Match ( 5:06)
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