Foals: 'Red Socks Pugie'

Look past the unrelenting hype and pull Foals's music into focus and the Oxford rockers are still difficult to pin down. Sonically they have no glaringly obvious indie/dance genre predecessors and their contemporaries (Bloc Party, Klaxons) don't quite cross over into their musical space. Foals almost sound like they don't belong in the present - they're a group 15 minutes from the future, at home on the next generation of iPod. New single 'Red Socks Pugie' has pulsing electronic note sequences, clanking kettledrums and - something they've picked up from listening to minimalist composer Steve Reich - an appreciation of timing and space between different sounds.

This track is less frenzied, more laid back than catchy last single 'Cassius', with a mellow verse holding things back before they take off on the chorus. 'Red Socks Pugie' is further indication that Foals are incredibly talented musicians in need of a producer to marshal their intricate and unique sound (the five-minute album version had to be chopped for the single release). As with their previous releases don't expect any degree of lyrical comprehension. Wasps' nests, vessels, terminals and swelling hearts - what's it all about lads?


> Click here for our review of Foals' album