THE FOXES are a London based indie rock band that formed in 2006, comprising singer/songwriter Nigel Thomas on vocals and rhythm guitar, Alex Douglas on bass and backing vocals, Jonathan Bretman on lead guitar and Stephen Wilde on drums. ‘Last Of Many’ is their debut long player, and the band financed this release, in fact the band are very self-sufficient, booking their own tours and producing all their promotional campaigns.
‘Last Of Many’ has fourteen tracks, and is the best debut I’ve heard this year (all right I know it’s only February, but this is a great album). The fourteen tracks fall between indie rock, indie ballads, and on occasions even doo-wop. In fact this is the sort of band that could easily fill the gap that The Libertines left when they imploded.
Nigel’s lyrics are clever, very easy on the ear, sometimes whimsical, and at others straight to the point, but never trite.
Opening with the lovely track ‘Suzy’, which with its slightly jerky rhythm harks back to late 1970’s post punk, and sounds a little like Squeeze. The lyrics are a tale of love and loss, and have a tongue in cheek wit: - “Suzy came down to the beach with me and held my hand/ We had only met an hour before/ We kissed and then she talked and she talked, and talked some more/ But for once I wasn’t bored.” This is a really good start and for songwriting, is as uniquely English as The Kinks, with some excellent backing vocals thrown in.
Following on from this is ‘Something About You’, a slightly slower slice of Britpop, with lyrics that are all about love and yearning for ‘the right one’: - “There’s something about you that makes me feel that you might be the one/ I never met you, but you’re a model of all that God intended.” With a wistful “I’ll be there for you”, this shows that the band can easily deliver the goods time after time.
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It’s not all indie pop and rock though. One of my favourite tracks is ‘No Reply’, which comes across as a doo-wop ballad, with the sort of jangly guitar hook line that is reminiscent of the Libertines ‘What Katie Did’. The lyrics here are excellent, and sum up the longing, aching feeling of unrequited love: -
“There’s no reply from you today, and I have to say it’s driving me insane. There’s no chance you’ll say to me you’d like to see me/Sometimes there’s nothing left of my life to give/ I could wait for the train without feeling love. I sit down where I can dream alone/ Ain't it too bad that you can’t see me alone?”
As well as this, ‘Get Me’ strays almost into jazzy territory with the sort of guitar line that Fairground Attraction would have been proud of. The lyrics here have a rather unusual metaphor in “I stumbled along like a wet paper bag”, which did take a feat of imagination to visualise!
This is the best debut I’ve heard this year so far and one where I feel that the band have pulled out all the stops. This is well worth buying, and if the band are as good live, then you’ll have a great night out indeed.
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