Foals’ debut Antidotes descended on my ears like a plague of locusts – scratchy, scritchy, and annoying as chronic livestock failure. Total Life Forever, thankfully, doesn’t make me want to shoot all pregnant horse-mares in the womb. While its indebtedness to Battles and the more progressive end of mathrock and post-punk is worn on sleeve, their second effort passes the personality test with flying colours. Measured, mulit-faceted, and not short of magic.
Words: Daniel Gray
