A pared-back counterpoint to the sheer scale of their two-part album Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Wake Me Up shimmers with choppy, Chic-esque guitars, tight syncopated rhythms and Foals’ prototype flair for punchy, insistent hooks. It feels like a natural evolution, blending fresh influences with echoes of their roots as purveyors of rambunctious house party chaos. Frontman Yannis Philippakis says, «There’s a journey that the band has gone on experimenting with different palettes of sound. This time there was a desire to take it back to more of the initial idea of the band where the rhythm, the grooves and the guitars are interlocking architecturally. We wanted to tap into the physicality of music. And we wanted it to feel good.» The song’s escapist lyrics are also a departure from Foals’ previous project. Yannis and bandmates Jimmy Smith and Jack Bevan would arrive for writing sessions at their small, airless rehearsal room in Peckham early in the morning. By the time they were finished for the day, darkness would have already enveloped South London. Wake Me Up took shape in the midst of Britain’s already bleak mid-winter, which became ever oppressive as Covid restricted the world around us. It proved to be a subliminal influence on Foals, too, their creativity becoming as much a reflection of their environment as it is from their inner inspiration. Yannis adds, «With Wake Me Up, I just wanted to write a song about transporting yourself to a better, idyllic situation. I think we all had that feeling of the last eighteen months being like a weird fever dream that felt surreal but very affecting. I think we all wished we could have woken up somewhere else at various points.» Enjoy the song!
This Is Pop? 