Get excited about... Foals’ ‘What Went Down’ could be the making of them

2013’s ‘Holy Fire’ changed things for Foals. Firstly, they wrote a hit. Maybe it’s slightly unfair to refrain from calling ‘Cassius’, ‘Miami’ et al chart-smashers, but something was different with ‘My Number’ - instantly recognisable and easy to love. They also wrote a crunching, deadly monster in ‘Inhaler’, the heaviest they’ve ever taken their material. These two cuts in particular - although the remainder of ‘Holy Fire’ is still a delight - showed that Foals could indeed step out of the mould that some had confined them to, by writing pop, straying into grunge, and stretching their capabilities in order to see what could happen.

Completely triumphant festival slots at Glastonbury, Latitude and Reading & Leeds followed that year, before the band headlined Bestival the following summer, propelling the Oxford group down the path that we all hoped they could tread. Only a few whispers (poppier songs, heavier songs, drinking hundreds of bottles of wine) emerged from the band’s southern France studio sessions for ‘What Went Down’, but that, along with a (literally) one-second snippet from the title track, was enough to send everyone a little bonkers. Then the single arrived… If, for some reason, you’re not beside yourself with excitement for ‘What Went Down’ yet, here’s why you most definitely should be.