#late again...

I have written about Fox Lake before - I focused purely on the use of the word “fuck” in Summer Snow - but I have since gone back and listened to the two tracks that compose Late Again... again and again and again, more than, I think, any other album or single or song released this entire year, and I will now attempt to explain why.

Both songs on Late Again... are remarkably similar, not necessarily in structure, but the tone and sound and feel of the whole thing feels constant and familiar, so that both songs blend into one in a glorious way and not in a “christ is this still going” way.

There’s technical prowess here and everyone is clearly a master of what they play, but the band each get room to breathe and show off, and they also know what works well together to make a cohesive piece of music overall that doesn’t overpower the mix, it all just works in a way that so often math-y music just doesn’t, or at least in an interesting enough fashion for me.

But the vocals, even though I can’t work out the lyrics, are majestic - the refrain from Half-mast features a harmony that catches me off-guard every time, with its emotional lead carried by straight harmonics that stop it from being too whiny but don’t steal its thunder, but every track features this mix of clean and growled vocals and shouting and harmony that is intense and soft at the same time - it is a thing of beauty to hear.

It’s only ten minutes of your time and you should check it out, if you like punk and emo and math then this could be your new obsession.

Stand-out tracks: Half-mast, Summer Snow, there’s literally only two songs