Foxygen - Seeing Other People

Opener ‘Work’ may, amusingly, kick off with a beginning few notes reminiscent of Whitney’s effervescent banger ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, but on their sixth LP, unpredictable Californians Foxygen are less up for a bop than an attempt at settling some scores. Like the hangover from 2017’s Broadway romp ‘Hang’, the likes of the scornful ‘Livin’ A Lie’, that pulls no punches at a friend turned nemesis, or ‘Flag At Half-Mast”s curtain call melancholy are not the songs of a happy band; the aforementioned, meta ‘Work’ is its bitter apex and calling card: “If I’m such a fucking jerk, then why don’t you write it down?”

Of course, because this is Foxygen, and they can’t help but add a little theatre, then musically there’s still a lot of fun to be found, from ‘Face The Facts” yuppie rock to ‘News” playful, ritzy keys. Still, despite the spruced-up surface, the bubbling undercurrent of ‘Seeing Other People’ remains a troubled one.