John Foxx + The Maths © 2011 Ed Fielding

I own a lot of John Foxx albums. I’ve been a fan of his music since discovering Ultravox in their 1980 incarnation and quickly working backward. This is the best one in 30 years. It’s the best sounding one in 33 years, which is why I’m breaking ranks to review a contemporary album. The Maths are basically just Benge [a.k.a. Ben Edwards] with his vast collection of analog synths. Together they have made a vastly compelling album that reminds the listener that digital synthesis is really second best. For a really vibrant, living soundfield, you can’t beat those asynchronous, rapidly detuning analog machines. They sound like complete, unmitigated power. They sound biological. As well they should. Electricity is a biological power, after all.

Metamatic | UK | CD | 2011 | META28CD

John Foxx + The Maths: Interplay UK CD [2011]

1. Shatterproof
2. Catwalk
3. Evergreen
4. Watching A Building On Fire
5. Interplay
6. Summerland
7. The Running Man
8. A Falling Star
9. Destination
10. The Good Shadow

The album opens with the chopped, slivered, and disjointed “Shatterproof.” The glitchy production that dismantles the song, even as it attempt to build its EBM-like arc is new to the John Foxx canon. Having heard that Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire is remixing this track is not shocking, since it is strongly redolent of the Cab Volt aesthetic. But it’s not the deconstructive production style that marks it thusly; it really comes down to the sinister vocal style adopted by Foxx for the first time ever. He delivers the disdainful lyrics with a palpable sense of disgust, not unlike classic Mallinder. If you would like to remix this track, the files are here.

The next cut is the swaggering “Catwalk,” a very unlikely modeling scenario given a scuzzy, glammed out feel. By this point the listener is realizing that Foxx has stepped far outside of the boundaries which have defined his music for the last 35 years. Hardcore fans are aware of his non-linear “novel” called “The Quiet Man” which has been the sources of most of his lyrics and thematic concerns since the “Systems Of Romance” period in 1978. That has given his work a profoundly coherent identity and thematic unity, but it also has meant that his milieu is well defined to his fans. This is no longer the case. The verses here echo those on “ROckwrok” from 1977’s “Ha! Ha! Ha!” as well as “Young Love” from the “Metamatic” era. You may hear the song in an edited mix below and decide for yourself.

Catwalk (ROckWrok Edit)

The only other artist who appears on this album is Mira Aroyo of Ladytron, who duets with Foxx on the haunting “Watching A Building On Fire.” She co-wrote the song as well, giving the demo to the group to finish. The result is a Ballardian urban catastrophe song; a Foxx staple. Ms. Aroyo is the first woman to share the mic with Foxx since the 80s and he couldn’t have picked a more appropriate collaborator. The Roland compurhythm lends this song a classic “Metamatic” feel, but the arrangement as a duet places it outside of that album’s ultimately introverted feel. You may download the grayed out mix of the song here.

The first four songs travel all over the map and the trip ahead shows no sense of slowing down. The title cut comes next and it is starkly different from the rest of the album. Benge has made field recordings of a thunderstorm for the delicate track, which is built on minimal, pianistic keyboards. Foxx sings the lyrics of intense regret with a distinct lack of vocal FX, apart from reverb, unlike the majority of these tracks. The singer has just underwent a disaster of some sort that was completely unforeseen in spite of enormous effort up front to avoid one.

In late 2009, John Foxx + The Maths made their debut with a digital single entitled “Destination.” That song appears in the album’s lineup, albeit in a different mix.  The track has had all of the dub space of the single removed for a more focused effect. But the track retains it’s Joe Meek-like killer production; sounding like the modern cousin of the classic “Telstar!”

The album closes with another quiet number. The Good Shadow ends the album with a benedictory air. Lush notes suffused with a warm vibrato are sequenced in a rondo; not unlike the intro to Kraftwerk’s “Europe Endless.” Foxx reassuringly proclaims his steadfast nature on the cut as it gradually fades off.

John Foxx has so many irons in the fire at this stage of his career, it’s hard to keep up with the soon to be 64 year old artist. Since his return to music 14 years ago, he has been tirelessly active; both in solo and collaborative efforts. His teamings with Robin Guthrie, Hrold Budd, and his large body of work with Louis Gordon in particular were enormously successful, yet these pale next to this work with Benge. In Edwards, Foxx has successfully found a foil who inspires his best and rises to meet him on a basis as equals.

I cannot stress how rich this album sounds and more importantly, how it has hooks and pop songcraft aplenty. John has proclaimed how he and Benge had no preconceived notions upon entering the studio, but when they started coaxing those sounds out of the Wall of Moog®, one thing led naturally to another and these pop songs were the happy result. John Foxx + The Maths will be touring in the UK next month and it causes me great sadness to know that I’ll be missing those shows. Particularly since Foxx and Benge are now accompanied by Hannah Peel and Serafina Steer. I’ve just become alerted to Peel via her being sampled on last year’s “History Of Modern” album by OMD. She’s keeping great company and I need to seek out some of her recordings. My fervent hope is that this project won’t be the last we hear from John Foxx + The Maths. It’s just too immensely successful to not give it another try in the future.

And it looks like we won’t have to wait long. The new issue of Mojo has their cover version of Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar” for a Pink Floyd cover CD project with “Dark Side Of  The Moon” and  “Wish You Were Here” covered on a single disc. Due to magazine error [they pressed the demo version, not the final mix], Mojo’s loss is your gain: you may download the proper, full CD quality track of “Have A Cigar” here, and as a bonus, Mojo is also providing a download of the single remix of the sumptuous “Evergreen” on the same page.

POSTSCRIPT [9/22/11]: Stop presses. According to today’s posting on the John Foxx + The Maths blog the next album will be released in October. Yes, that’s next month!!! The paint’s not dry on “Interplay” and they’re already laying rubber. Amazing. Also, this is John Foxx Week on the Artrocker website. Click through for tons of content, including a new download from the upcoming album.

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