I reviewed Foals’ “Balloons” for Paper Thin Walls.
The guitar notes heard opening “Balloons” are thin jabs of sound, scattershot lines on an EKG. And yet as much as they propel the song forward, they sound almost fragile in comparison with the wall of keyboards behind them, the saxophone that helps to open things, the insular drumbeat.
Having been impressed with them live, I had been concerned that the album wouldn’t quite meet my expectations. The album, though, sets up its own terms and takes their sound into interesting places. Plus, I’m a sucker for a good horn section.
You don’t think it sounds too much like a Celebration album? That was my main beef with it, and I love Celebration.
I’m….not sure. I was coming to the record with the freshest thing in my mind for a point of comparison being their live set. I can see some resemblance, though I’m not sure how much of that would be David Sitek’s production. (I also haven’t seen Celebration live, so I can’t make a comparison from that perspective.)