Foals are growing up

“Total Life Forever” is musically the next logical step after the acclaimed “Antidotes.” Foals have added maturity to their sound by constructing a different setting and providing an atmosphere, showing themselves much more patient now, for better or worse.

While the album doesn’t jump up out of its own ambience as often as it should, it does still achieve the magnitude of “Antidotes,” relying on layering and swelling to attain its proportions instead.

The opening track, “Blue Blood,” illustrates this point by gradually adding melodic lines and percussion instead of throwing the entire song at the listener as one big dance-inducing heap.

Such structures are an indicator of maturing artists, and the ability to step back from a previous sound to put faith in a new direction is certainly laudable. However, on “Total Life Forever,” it seems as if there are hints of a lagging intensity, which, if allowed to fully manifest, could ruin what makes Foals great.

Tracks like “Two Trees,” for example, have potential but don’t end up really going anywhere. Foals seems struck by a tranquilizer dart: Yannis Philippakis’ vocals lightly ride atop the placid ripples of Jack Bevan’s snare and Edwin Congreave’s airy, aimless synth.

To stay in its listeners’ attention and hearts, Foals needs to look toward “Miami,” “Spanish Sahara,” and “This Orient” as prototypes for the future: danceable, dynamic and concrete.