Foxygen - We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

This Californian duo apparently came up with their name while still at high school so let's forgive them for choosing Foxygen. What they were thinking of with the title of their latest album, I shudder to think. The best I can say about the album title is that it harks back to The Kinks' 'We Are The Village Green Preservation Society', and curiously, so does some of the music.



Some critics have condemned the band as a clone of the Rolling Stones, and while I can see similarities especially the Jagger vocal mannerisms adopted on the title track, the music extends beyond the limits of 1960's R&B. Indeed this album is almost an aural version of painting by numbers.

The very opening notes conjure up memories of The Beatles ('Hello Goodbye') but then they mix in elements of mid to late 1960's Kinks. Fancy a wash of Velvet Underground? Then 'No Destruction' fits the bill, yet when Sam France sings the words 'the door of consciousness isn't open any more', he morphs into the sneering 'Blonde on Blonde' era Dylan. Why I swear the song even has that thin wild mercury sounding organ and ends with a blast of Dylanesque harmonica.

Hey guys let's have a little splash of 'Under My Thumb' followed by a deft line from 'Suspicious Minds' OK, no problem and how about a delicate shade of Prince for good measure? It's all there in song number three, 'On Blue Mountain'.

'San Francisco' features a catchy pop melody that could have appeared on any of The Kinks late 60's offerings. France sings 'I left my love in San Francisco' and is answered by the female love interest, 'That's OK, I was born in LA'. More lovely melodies occur in 'Shuggie' which goes through a number of tempo changes and features more Lou Reed and a brief soul funk section. This is followed by 'Oh Yeah' which is how a collaboration between Prince, Mick Jagger and John Lennon might have sounded. I also detect a good helping of Lennon plastered across the dream sequence of album closer, 'Oh No 2'. When France chants 'Oh No', it could almost be 'Ono'.

The title track somehow manages to span three decades with doses of late 50's rock'n'roll, mid 60's R&B and a touch of 70's punk. Then it ends with a psychedelic sequence. It's frantic, wild and wonderful stuff.

It's a lot of fun listening to this album trying to identify the various influences and dare I say homages. However, there is a lot more to this wonderfully produced album (by Richard Swift) than merely paying homage to the masters of the past. In truth, this is a damn fine album in it's own right. One that has already been added to the ever growing list entitled, 'Best of 2013'