Feature

BY JACK PROBST

The term “foxing” describes the process of deterioration on paper. Flip through paperback novels at a used bookstore and you’ll find well loved pages yel lowed around the edges. rown spots stain chapters that haven’t been read in decades; the first readthrough of undiscovered stories that seem so familiar. They’re the kind of stories that are worth picking up because they’re comforting — tales that feel as though they are well known to you even though you’ve never read them before.

Foxing is also the name of a rock band that hails from St. ouis a band that retains a simi lar sense of familiarity even as it continuously evolves from record to record. n the group’s new est album the freshly released Draw Down the Moon you’ll be re minded of the band that first sur faced ten years ago even though you’ve never heard Foxing sound quite like this before. On this out ing the band shrank down to a three piece for its composition and tapped members of Atlanta’s Manchester Orchestra for collabo ration in its recording. The result is an incredibly ambitious record that is replete with the emo inten sity that marked the group’s early work the danceable synth pop grooves that have come to be part of its sound in more recent years and the arena rock choruses that bring the band its moments of most visceral triumph with slashes of unexpected dissonance to keep fans on their toes. The fa miliar elements are there but the whole affair is bigger grander. t fits in well with Fo ing’s oeuvre to date but distinguishes itself with its fully conceived maturity.

According to guitarist/vocalist Connor urphy it’s not that the band is trying to reinvent itself. t’s more accurate to think of it as a natural progression for an act that embraces its own evolution and growth with both arms.

“ very album that we put out we don’t try to do some kind of departure in any way. ike we’re gonna flip it and make some new thing ’ urphy e plains. “The best thing to us is like when somebody says h really didn’t like your other albums but like this one.’ think that’s honestly something that we’re always re ally happy to hear because we don’t want to make the same al bum twice. ividing an audience is something that’s exciting to us.”

The ambitious undertaking was matched with an e ually grand rollout one that saw the band creating its own ungeons ragons inspired pu les to un lock exclusive content through its drawdownthemoon.org website teaming up with mmy Tony and rammy award winning ac tor ndr e Shields in the music video for the album’s title track. Foxing recorded a companion concert film at the randel aired on demand on the date of the al bum’s release for just a hour window.

“We try to implement a sense of theatrics to our music the same way we do when we perform live urphy says. “Trying to sincerely make something that is a spectacle to see live and in the same way something that is a unique experience to listen to.” n keeping Draw Down the Moon is determinedly cinematic while entirely introspective. t’s a grandiose affair imbued with a persistent sense of longing. That tone is driven by Murphy’s deep ly personal and cutting lyrics like those of the self titled track a catchy tune focused on its pro tagonist’s need to prove his com mitment to the object of his affec tion. “ ’m never gonna stop loving you urphy sings at the song’s outset. “ f could would have done it by now. t’s an album that knows that life is joyful and also that life can suck so bad.

The writing process for Draw Down the Moon was jump started when urphy caught an episode of Joe Pera Talks with You a show that may be even more whole some than Ted Lasso. Part of Adult Swim’s current lineup the episode sees comedian Joe Pera — picture a something man imbued with the sensibilities of ndy riffith narrating a scene in which he describes Stephen awking cheating on his wife. ooking at it from his perspective awking feels insignificant as he looks off into the universe so what does it matter if he cheats on his wife ut on the other hand his wife thinks that if the universe is vast and you found a perfect person that loves you and trusts you then why would you cheat on them

This concept urphy e plains inspired the themes of Draw Down the Moon spurred on of course by the C V pandemic.

The members of St. Louis band Fo ing were in their teens when they first hit the national spot

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light with The lbatross. Three albums and one pandemic later both their sound and ambition is still e panding on their new re cord raw own the oon The band’s deep association with emo the genre it’s permanently been stamped with is still there in frontman urphy’s oft profound lyrics if not as much in its instru mentation. Foxing’s sound has changed too e panded really from what the band did on its most recent record Nearer My God. There are more synthesi ers this time around and drum mer on ellwig’s beats get a bit funky on “ o own Together and “Where the Lightning Strikes Twice. op records by Caroline olachek Carly Rae epsen and Charli C significantly influ enced Draw Down the Moon ur phy e plains. ut even with the wide ranging mi of genres on display he’s still with the “emo” tag.

“ think we’ve always embraced the kind of genre tag or compart ment people want to put us into. People still call us an emo band and hon estly think that’s fine he says. “ ’d call us an emo band at this point. t this point we’re like whatever you need to call it to be able to describe it to someone else yeah that makes sense. t’s al ways a ranging thing.

“ t is at its core emotional mu sic he adds. “We strive to make songs that you really have to sit down and listen to as opposed to something that you just kind of hear on the radio. t’s emotionally invested music.”

For this effort guitarist ric udson doubled as producer and he perfectly captured those pop sensibilities. udson worked tire lessly on the record at the band’s St. Louis studio for a year before the group decamped to Georgia to put the finishing touches on it with members of Manchester Orches tra. t might not seem like such disparate parts would work to create a cohesive whole but they do: Foxing has composed a slate of genuinely danceable songs here even if the lyrics aren’t so upbeat. ut aren’t the best pop songs to dance to also the saddest aturally the pandemic made the process of creating the album much more difficult than any of the band’s previous efforts.

Jon Hellwig, Conor Murphy and Eric Hudson couldn’t be in the same room together during the pandemic, which forced them to figure out new ways to work together and apart. | HAYDEN MOLINAROLO

“ n a production level it has never been harder than on this record to write and record some thing urphy says. “We knew ric was going to produce this album but he had an incredibly form Draw Down the Moon in its entirety. fter that there will be a short break before the group’s members return to play a selec tion of favorites from their other three records. f the show sells

huge amount of work to pull this off. ric would set up a room that would then go into and record stuff while he was gone and he would try to sift it together. t the end of it it sounds really huge and e pansive in some way. think it’s truly just a testament to a really good producer to make it seem like this huge thing that’s record ed all at once rather than being what it actually was which was really cobbled together.”

Soon the band will emerge fi nally from its pandemic bunker and connect with the world in its most preferred manner once again. This Saturday marks Fox ing’s return to the live stage and its first ever outing at the ageant. The band’s lineup will include longtime collaborators Ryan Wa soba on guitar and rett Torrance on bass. The openers include pro ducers and arisian along with bands onds and Choir Vandals. n typically am bitious fashion Fo ing will per out urphy has vowed that he will get a gooey butter cake tattoo live on stage. fter more than a year without performing in front of a crowd Murphy says the band is beyond excited to hit the stage again.

“ t’s this really wild mi of emo tions for it. don’t even know where to start he says. “ ’m e tremely excited to play live in gen eral. f all of the things missed the most this is not just my career but my total passion. The one thing truly know about myself that enjoy and that am in any way good at is performing. And so to not do that for such a long time is don’t know. t’s just draining.

Still with the elta variant of C V surging in the state and nation urphy does acknowl edge some concerns.

“We have the mask mandate — that’s great but also doubt that there will be a vaccine mandate for the show and ’m very wor ried about people getting sick he

says. “We were selling tickets at a time when everything was get ting more and more optimistic. ut now it’s this very scary thing and we don’t want anybody to be sick or die as a result of coming to our fucking concert.” “What I tried to do was recognize that n onday of this week after this interview had your actual significance as been conducted the ag eant instituted a policy that will re uire proof of it relates to the universe vaccination or a negative C V test in order to gain entry to any concert is in the connection that you have to on its premises which should hopefully ease other people and other philosophies some of Murphy’s fears.) The fact that the show and ideas and concepts.” will take place at the ag eant one of St. ouis’ most celebrated venues is deeply significant for urphy as well. t’s not just a stage where he’s seen countless of his favorite acts perform live it’s also a venue where he spent some time as an employee even penning some of the lyrics for the new album while on duty. “ was doing door staff at a Fall ing n Reverse show which was a nightmare he says. “ was writ ing the second to last song on the album called f elieved n ove ’ and was literally writing that on a break. ike was writ ing out the lyrics to it and hum ming melodies into my phone.” t’s an anecdote that neatly en capsulates what Fo ing has ac complished with Draw Down the Moon — creating something beautiful and wholly uni ue in the face of some of the most try ing circumstances. “When was done with my break came back in and it was like h puke. There’s puke here ’ he laughs. “ ou gotta throw the sawdust on it or whatever.’ n