Seeing Other People sees Foxygen return with their fifth offering of nostalgic pop-rock. The album opens with “Work”, a boogie which actually includes a pneumatic drill – must be for that added industrial vibe thats trendy nowadays obviously. Lead singer Sam France, comes fresh from a long term relationship quickly dropping us into the cheesiness of an 80s power synth cut “Mona”, before settling into a ballad-boogie-ballad-boogie formula for the remainder.
The record jumps from 2017’s Hang, a seventies glam-theatre album, into the pumping sounds of the eighties a la Springsteen and Costello. There is a retreat from the orchestral motifs of their last outing, and a turn towards some sweet sweet synthy-ness. Though the mix at times falls flat to show up France’s improvised tirades its a timely move for the band and sees them reinvent themselves yet again.
On first listen however the album as a whole misses the mark. The singles appeared as the stand out tracks by far due to their familiarity however, by the third listen, album tracks “Mona”, “Seeing other people” and “The Thing Is” were the strongest of the bunch. Meanwhile “Flat at Half-Mast”- a song that recounts most likely the loss of producer Richard Swift who ‘discovered’ the band after they gave him their EP in New York – is a triumph. A slow burning, melancholic, but hopeful five minutes; the final jam of this track is real stand out moment on the LP.
Overall, the album doesn’t hit Foxygen’s best ability, presenting a rough around the edges concept that doesn’t have the lasting impact of their previous work. It sounds great, you could put some of its songs at an edgy house party, but as a whole there appears an element missing.
Sam France moving on,
Mixed attempt from them.
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