Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Foals, Warner Music 2022.
Life Is Yours is English rock band Foals seventh album and they have gone for a less nuanced approach than they’ve adopted on earlier albums.
It’s an approach that I haven’t really taken to yet.
Gone are the delicate musical interactions that I enjoyed so much and in comes the standard algorithms of modern pop/rock, making them to all intents and purposes indistinguishable from all the other mainstream Britrock bands.
In retrospect their move away from the fringes toward the centre has been a slow progression but the transformation is most obvious on Life Is Yours.
Interestingly their fanbase, if noted by sales, suggests that the move has been financially rewarding.
Although reviewers have been circumspect in their response to the album, sales have been strong.
The feel of the album should have come as no surprise because the five singles released all exhibit the let’s dance and party ethos of the album.
There are no subtle digs at pompous and inept politicians, or pleas to curb rampant consumerism and tackle climate change that appeared on Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost (2019. Instead, we get sex and drugs and rock’n’roll.
I’m probably being a bit harsh because I enjoyed the ramble of earlier work.
There’s no doubt that Life Is Yours is tighter than Everything Not saved… It’s true that most Foals albums contain at least one filler track that you always want to skip but in going for a tighter, less rambling, collection of songs they risk the accusation of dumbing things down too much.
And the sometimes overly intricate musical interplay that was their trademark sound has also largely given way to a more direct approach.
Maybe all these changes are the result of personnel changes. They have been whittled down from a five-piece outfit to a trio.
I have only listened to the album once so fans may suggest that I’ve been too quick to judge, but if I’m delving into some Foals I’m probably going to revisit Total Life Forever (2009), or Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost.
