INNER BATTLES (vinyl)

Description

After the explosive Ashamed, Mad Foxes’ flamboyant post-punk returns with their third album, Inner Battles. When fans of Shame, Fontaines D.C and Metz look to develop new sounds, the result is a surprising and fully rounded album. The band brings Noise and Pop together, daring to blend punk with 80s kitsch, as if Elton John were going for coffee with Joe Talbot. Inner Battles is the result of a deeply introspective creative process. The band explores many of the feelings that fuel their daily lives and relationships, evoking mental health in both its intimate and universal dimensions. Mad Foxes then makes room for the visceral need to share their deep and chaotic feelings, while seeking ways to break free from them, to shake off this inner struggle and let hope and light shine through. The album was recorded by Christophe Hogommat between January and March 2023 near Nantes. Christophe and the band having already worked together on the first two albums, their long-standing friendship and close bond made it possible to create ideal recording conditions, in order to weave the album’s narrative thread as honestly as possible. The album was mixed by Joris Saïdani, drummer for Birds in Row and Fragments, a sound engineer who has worked with BOPS, Simone d'Opale and Middle Child among others. His fresh perspective on the recording, his keen musical sense and his discerning ear helped give Inner Battles a radical turn, true to the desire of the band and Joris to fuse the pop and noise emerging from the new tracks. The mastering was entrusted to Thibault Chaumont, a fine sound technician who has worked for Igorrr, Lana Del Rey and It It Anita, and who brilliantly applied the essential finishing touch to this record. With Ashamed, their second album released in 2021, Mad Foxes kicked the door down on post-punk to burst in among the outsiders of a revival that was nonetheless rich in worthy representatives. A fine impression that was confirmed in the following months by a great KEXP session and an invitation to play on Jimmy Fallon’s show. Two years later, the Nantes band has recharged its batteries and returns with Inner Battles, a new release due out on February 2, 2024. After unveiling Cold Water Swim, the Nantes band now presents Hurricanes, a new preview track via a video clip. --- Mowno ---