In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing.
Unlike much of Count Your Lucky Star’s roster, it took a while for me to be convinced that Foxing was worthy of the small-yet-persistent buzz surrounding it. It’s not that its debut album, The Albatross, was unworthy of attention, but with each new band tackling the sounds of the mid-’90s Midwestern scene, it’s getting harder to deduce who is chasing a trend (one that is on the cusp of being abandoned, no less) and who is genuine. What pushed Foxing over the edge was the music video for The Albatross’ centerpiece, “Rory.”
The video splits the well-dressed band into two groups in two separate rooms, each member plaintively plucking away at their instruments, with an obtuse storyline about children in masks offsetting it. To this end the video offers a peek at what The Wicker Man would have looked like with Wes Anderson directing. The song takes a page from The National’s book, anchoring “Rory” with vocals and piano before it slowly shifts toward a room-shaking crescendo; the guitars open up, setting fire to the measured movements that came before it, with swirling strings and horns swooping in like a calm, cooling wind immediately after. It’s these subtle displays that prove Foxing isn’t chasing any trend, and that it’s pulling from the right sources while carving out a voice unto itself.