Foals
The Runner
Part 2 Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost
“I think it will be remembered as part of one work,” Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis tells Apple Music. “But it’s definitely the second series of the show. We left part one on a cliffhanger, and now the series is going to end. You get the full picture here.” Released in March 2019, Part 1 Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost earned Foals their third Mercury Prize nomination. This is its second part, released seven months later. It tackles album one’s political and societal ruminations with an extraordinary clobbering of guitar rebellion, before the most exquisitely contemplative music of their career brings the project to its poignant close. They’ve never had more oomph or more to say. “This album does have a different character,” Philippakis says. “There’s a different palate, which can be more direct and confrontational. But it is all fundamentally the product of the same time. Everything has come from the same petri dish.” Let Philippakis guide you through his band’s climactic, thrilling sixth album, track by track.
The Runner
“This has instantly resonated with people, it seems. It definitely takes place after part one—it’s about both wanting to combat one’s internal struggles and is perhaps symbolic for the struggle we face as a society to overcome bigger problems. It's also about just trying to keep one's resolve up and not falling into despair or nihilism. When we wrote the riff, it was just physically gratifying to us in the room. As soon as we started playing it onstage, we knew it was going to become a mainstay of the set—which I really think it will be. It's also got probably the creamiest solo I've ever written.”
Black Bull
“As soon as we wrote the riff, I felt the song should be called ‘Black Bull.’ There was something heathen and primal about it. As I started thinking about the lyrics, I wanted it to be a capsule full of negative or conflicting male traits. Delusions of grandeur, arrogance, pride, feelings of immortality—all things that have this maniacal energy to it. We were also thinking about how this would be performed live. It felt like a potent song, and tracks like this and the album ‘What Went Down’ feel to us like vessels to express a type of rage.”