Rarely is bedroom pop played with such hyperactive abandon.
Foxygen, the duo of Sam France and Jonathan Rado, present a debut album that never sits still, careening wildly, even within individual songs, across a wide range of pop, rock and avant-garde influences. Imagine a way more off-kilter version of the band fun.
But despite that continually buzzing kineticism, there’s a strong foundation of pop hooks, doled out generously throughout the 36-minute Take the Kids Off Broadway.
“Abandon My Toys” is a curious title for the lead song on an album made by a pair of 22-year-olds tinkering around with bedroom pop. But it leads off the album with a wink, introducing the thrilling spontaneity that runs through the album.
The title song plays out like some psychedelic doo-wop number, with the romanticized adolescence of past generations distilled through the technological lens of the 2010s.
“Teenage Alien Blues,” a 10-minute burst of musical collage in the middle, sums up the album’s strengths as well as flaws. It’s an experimental blend of psych-rock and Motown, groovily spaced out. It’s ambitious and loaded with tantalizing hooks, but flirts dangerously with meandering busyness.
Take the Kids Off Broadway is a fun debut, full of promise. While bedroom-pop music tends to be airy and meticulously crafted, Foxygen blow the doors off that notion, indulging and combining retro impulses and experimental whims in quick order.
This article appears in Sep 13-19, 2012.