Review & Full Album Premiere: Foot, You Are Weightless
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on June 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Melbourne heavy rockers Foot release their fourth album, You Are Weightless, through Copper Feast Records on June 10. Given the time difference between here and Australia, the record’s probably already been out for a week, but in following-up 2020’s The Balance of Nature Shifted (review here), the project led by Paul Holden continues to push toward a full-band incarnation, incorporating guest players like returning backing vocalist James McGuffie who supports Holden on the opener “Bitter,” “I’ll Be Just Fine” — for which Dave Pemberton‘s guitar also sits in — and closer “Scared.” Still very much in Holden‘s wheelhouse writing-wise, You Are Weightless further branches out in “Bitter” working off lyrics by Mark Lanegan and making the Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover “Gold Lion” its centerpiece, seeing Jack Eddie guest on guitar for second cut “Caged Animal” — also the longest track at 6:45, but not by much — and Tom Thomas contribute keyboards to all save for “Gold Lion” and the subsequent get-laid exploration, “I’ll Be Just Fine.”
Thomas‘ keys are an obvious focal point for Holden this time around. You Are Weightless shares its well-structured songwriting foundation and penchant for hooks with its predecessor, certainly, but to listen to the midsection prog-out in the penultimate “Impossible” — right before it gets very, very heavy and then cruelly fades out, ne’er to return — the branching out into newer stylistic territory is palpable as well. “Bitter” starts You Are Weightless with Lanegan‘s lines turned catchy work to introduce the tones and scope of the album. There are hints toward desert rock, a little Hommeian twist in the bridge, but Foot are their own thing — at very least Holden‘s own thing — and the organ that runs along with the guitar and the layered vocal melody of “Bitter” reinforces that individuality. “Bitter” grows dreamier but never loses the solidity of the drums under its feet, and it’s those that drive the finish, Thomas‘ keyboard no less part of the swirl. “Caged Animal,” which follows, is more brooding and puts the keys to use conveying movement through the underlying tension that finally pays off right as the song enters its last minute.
Here too the keys are crucial, if not directly forward as part of the crescendo that ensues. Third cut “Fire Dance” starts out with a harder-edged groove — something that Holden seems organically to lean toward, though usually reserved for payoffs like “Caged Animal” or “Impossible” later on — and has a genuine impact to its crashes enough to speak to a vague ’90s influence that could be tracked to anyone from Life of Agony to Helmet to whatever more commercial band worked off that influence you might want to 
namedrop. “Fire Dance” follows behind “Caged Animal” figuratively as well as literally though for the push of keys in its second half, the lyric, “Watch me light a fire without a plan,” transitioning into a chugging section of guitar that becomes the bed for the keys and other whatnot overtop. There’s pretty clearly a plan at work, despite the line just before the departure, and the meatier tonality put behind “Gold Lion” brings it into the context of You Are Weightless and speaks again to how tight a rein Holden has on the sounds and structures of the band.
Is he letting go a little bit with Thomas on keys this time? That’s a convenient story if you’re into narrative — and I very much am — but it might just be how the balance of these songs worked out. The real tell in that regard will be what happens after You Are Weightless, but like Holden‘s central riffs, clear-headed choruses and ability to harness melodic complexity with a classically pop-ish apparent-ease, there’s plenty of fodder for speculation to enjoy in the meantime, “I’ll Be Just Fine” layering in a Mellotron-esque key alongside the more actively winding guitar, the self-titled-era Alice in Chains harmonies matching in their slower delivery before everything comes apart and then quickly returns around the guitar like the sudden start of another song in the final 30 seconds of this one. The drumming in the first half makes “Impossible” feel more urgent, but the midsection turn mellows out somewhat, Holden reminding of mid-period Katatonia with his vocals before the keys lead an at-first-understated solo that gives over to the aforementioned finish and fade.
As the auteur, Holden seems to emphasize the progressive underpinnings in closing with “Scared,” the arrangements this time putting him in conversation with Opeth or Porcupine Tree in ways that even The Balance of Nature Shifted weren’t in terms of being able to shift between one idea and the next. “Scared” plays it middle of the road during its verses but opens wide in the chorus and sets up a big, organ-topped instrumental finish, on which everything but the guitar fades out and that fades up, essentially consuming the song until it too cuts out, as though Holden wanted to finish by reminding his audience where it all comes from. So be it. As a composer and performer, Holden more than holds together Foot as a project harnessing full-band sounds — that is to say, he’s one person at the core of an accomplished act, not just doing it all himself which would be impressive on its own — and he shows distance from his own writing process in terms of arrangements and finding what best serves the songs themselves. You Are Weightless plays through its 40 minutes with a definite sense of his leading the procession, but the course he’s set is unwavering in its focus on the material, and that material is all the more appreciable in terms of craft and execution for that.
Below you can stream You Are Weightless in its entirety ahead of the release Friday. Preorder link and more on who does what where follow, courtesy of the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Following on from their 2020 lockdown masterpiece, The Balance of Nature Shifted, the band return this June with the sonic equivalent of a heavily wrought, fuzz-lined straitjacket in new album, You Are Weightless. Channelling the dynamic spirit of acts like Queens of the Stone Age and Alice in Chains, they envelope their music with social commentary and grand visions that help tip the scales in favour of the heavier, more visceral cradle of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a sight and sound to behold and make no mistake, Holden, along with his band of merry sessioners, have crafted their boldest and most revelatory album to date.
Teaming up once again with the Sydney-based Foot-Appreciation Society, Copper Feast Records, You Are Weightless will receive an official worldwide release on 10th June 2022 and can be pre-ordered HERE: https://copperfeastrecords.bandcamp.com/album/you-are-weightless
TRACK LISTING:
1. Bitter
2. Caged Animal
3. Fire Dance
4. Gold Lion
5. I’ll Be Just Fine
6. Impossible
7. Scared
Music & Lyrics written by Paul Holden except where noted:
Track 4 written by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Additional Lyricists – Mark Lanegan (Track 1)
Music Performed by Paul Holden
Additional Musicians –
Jack Eddie (Guitar – Track 2)
Dave Pemberton (Guitar – Track 5)
James McGuffie (Backing Vocals – Track 1, 5, 7),
Tom Thomas (Keyboards – Track 1, 2, 3, 6, 7)
Mixing – Ryan Fallis at Inventions Studios
Mastering – Forrester Savell
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