Ever Challenging, ever artistically intriguing and ever- fervent and brilliant musician ship, the former Oxford uni boys are applying their great intelligence to the music once again, it would seem. It's a much more mature, much more conformed albm than their debut, but still throughout you get that sense that, just as Foals look like they might have decided on a destination, they pull out for a trickier route. And all the better for it. Whilst the playful pop bounce of " Miami" and the cinematic chorus "This Orient" Cling closely to the youthful exuberance of their debut, Foals drop most of that for a more haunting and mind- cloying experience. From Haunting opener "Blue Blood" to first single from the album and the surging "Spanish sahara," this is an album of daunting prowess, gloomy atmosphere and lush melodic-ism. Shying away has never sounded so good.