It’s not available online, but if you a picked up a copy of our print edition, you’ll see a music preview for tonight’s Foxwarren show. In it, I basically go on and on about how they should just release an album already. A sample: “Waaaaaaaaaaa, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, release an aaaaaaaaaalbum already.”
That wasn’t quite what I wrote, but it was close. The band has been around Regina for a while, long enough that one could expect some kind of release from them.
So, of course, four days after my preview hits the stands, band member Darryl Kissick Facebook messages me to say that they’ve just released the album. Not only have they released it, but the album – called Has Been Defeated – is up on their Bandcamp page, priced at “name your price”.
Foxwarren don’t waste any time, going through nine tracks in just under 24 minutes. A few of the tracks, like “Retreated”, “Robins Sing”, and “Crickets Ring”, are more mood pieces than anything else, keeping the feel of the album going. But, the rest of the songs, especially tracks like “Leave But Stay the Same”, “Car Wreck”, and “Defeated”, are all fully developed and wonderful on their own or as a part of the whole. The production is tight and natural, the perfect compliment for Andy Shauf and Dallas Bryson’s singing styles, one harsh and the other harsh. Most bands would envy Foxwarren’s ability to perfectly capture touches of subtle sweetness with touches of dissonance.
Good move, Foxwarren. Good move.
If a possibly-free album download isn’t the thing to convince you of a how good a band is, Foxwarren will be playing at O’Hanlon’s tonight.