FOXHAUNT – Mindset EP

By RingMaster Review on February 26, 2022 • ( 0 )

Eager and positive words have been shared around us in regard to UK outfit FOXHAUNT so it was no stretch of our intrigue to go exploring the quartet’s new Mindset EP. Offering five tracks which roar from the speakers with the band’s alternative rock bred, variety of flavouring invigorated sound, the release more than backed up those praise bearing whispers; in fact leaving much of it short on their suggestion of a band to keep an ear upon.

Instantly grabbing ears but only increasingly striking by the listen, the Mindset EP is a blaze of enterprise and invention with the roar of a tornado and drama of a storm; a proposition equally fueled by a contagion of imagination and craft. A quick listen back to previous releases revealed that they are qualities which have never been too far from the York band’s music but not to the invention and maturity ablaze within their new record. The likes of Architects, Linkin Park, Don Broco, and Story of the Year have been offered as references to their music, most certainly understandable and occasionally recognisable essences but the EP reveals individuality far greater than ever before which adds to its rich persuasion.

It opens with Enemy, its initial lure an electronic urging with a slight tempestuousness to it. It soon draws on the band’s melodic and emotive prowess, an incitement led by the quickly alluring tones of Ollie Swift. The inherent catchiness in the band’s music is also instantly at work but equally is the forceful and aggressive nature of their sound, it lying in wait in the track’s calms before exposing the inherent angst and turbulence of its heart with voracious intent. With keys a perpetual almost kaleidoscopic glaze around the heavier breath and snarl of Nick Dawson’s bass and guitarist Thom Clayton’s webs of intimation and enterprise, the track is a superb start to the EP with its great moments of unpredictability and invention a hint of things to come.

The following Parallels immediately shares the virulent catchiness it bears through an addiction sparking hook, the song quickly exploring its emotional canvas before again uncaging its irresistible entrapment within a fiery chorus. Thunderous waves and hungry hooks are pure richness in its creativity, FOXHAUNT delivering both with voracity and dexterity; essences matched by the flying beats and rhythmic manipulation of drummer Jamie Scott.

The immediate urgency and insistence of Ronin had firmly held ears next, beats offering pugilistic sparring with the senses as guitars and keys cast their volatile and impassioned flames around similarly heated vocals. Defiance and a sense of ire loaded discontent fuel the ever explosive and impressive track before Monster storms the barricades with rhythmic trespass and cyclonic riffs. As within all tracks, moments of calm break the forcefulness of tempests spun but carrying their own emotional turmoil to only escalate the drama and imagination, this pair of tracks vying for the EP’s most compelling moment.

Make Me Feel Alive concludes the release, again a creative theatre to the band’s invention as magnetic as the foursome’s individual and united enterprise. With a foot stamping stroll as contagious as its tapestry of hooks and melodic tempting, the song makes an ear gripping and spirit rousing close to one fine release.

So yes the suggestions around us were not far from the truth, FOXHAUNT should be seriously kept on the radar they just omitted to say that with the Mindset EP, the band have kicked down the door to the keenest attention with a mighty bang right now.

The Mindset EP is out now.