Foals Storm The Gates With Authority

Guitar and drum produce an enticing noise in the centerpiece to Foals' current single "Mountain At My Gates". Yannis Philippakis makes incredible sounds come out. The riff gets better as the song wears on. Not to be outdone drummer Jack Bevan has the back beat thing down to a blissful science. It's the same wonderful combination as, say, a hamburger and french fries. Vocally Yannis has a masterful presence which serves the material well. He excites audiences to join the fervor with him. The video finds him bouncing off many an available wall. I like how the chords selected adopt this descending the staircase mentality rather than bounce up and down the fret wildly, intimidating anyone and everyone within a five mile radius. I know I'm usually a huge proponent of mixing up the guitar parts but in this instance staying transfixed in one slot gives "Mountain At My Gates" the punch it needs to maintain attention spans. Imagery in the key of foreboding haunts the lyric sheet. This mountain looms larger by the day. Darkness holds the keys to Yanni's fate as he knows it. The mountain is visible more and more each day. I wouldn't advise acting on the lyric "I'll drive my car without the brakes." That's wrong on so many levels. It's not one suggestion veering towards self-preservation. His desire wears a dark dress. No big surprise there. There's a giant shadow effect to these lyrics. You can't make out a ray of sunshine anywhere. The crunch refuses to be denied. Edwin Congreave lends some keyboards to the proceedings. That only helps ratchet up the ante on the goose flesh idea. Initially the thud drumming comes across as militant. Then, the rest of the band's harmonies join in with a brashness not foreign to rock music. In the second stanza Walter Gervers drops down, to go retro with an '80s adjective, bodacious bass. Hooking the crowds early gets your foot in the door with concertgoers and in our digital age gets downloads going fast and furious. The Oxford gents slip into their hefty rhythms like hand in glove. The drumming variation between thump, bang, and hairpin turn mental makes this climb up the mountain a breathless undertaking, exhausting in a nice way. Even better there isn't an act out there I can draw comparisons to, although you're certainly welcome to try. Jimmy Smith chimes in with synths that bring depth to what Yannis and friends are trying to communicate. When I tuned in for the first time Foals grabbed my ears with how it instinctively knew how to zero in on the right harmonies. That made me hungry. Consider my appetite for quality British indie rock appeased. You'll be a better person for having scaled this mountain.