The latest in my irregular, indulgent series of “impressive but little-known outside of Oz” bands is maybe the best yet – Foot are a four-piece desert/stoner rock collective hailing from Melbourne, Australia, who released their self-titled debut back in 2016 and its follow-up Buffalo two years later before joining the Copper Feast stable. Their third album titled The Balance of Nature Shifted landed in May 2020 to critical acclaim and they’ve gone from strength to strength since, with their latest production being 2022’s You Are Weightless. You may have seen reviews of these guys before but I make no apology for looking to spread the word!
Steered by guitarist, vocalist and creative force, Paul Holden, and joined for this stoner / grunge project by guest musicians Jack Eddie, Dave Pemberton, James McGuffie and Tom Thomas , the band follow in the footsteps (huh!, huh!) of such luminaries as Alice in Chains, Dinosaur Jr and Queens of the Stone Age. Social commentary and grand visions, spiced with a little funk and psychedelia thrown in creates a truly contemporary sound that has well and truly hooked me. This is certainly Foot’s boldest, beefiest, most “poppy” and most inventive chunk of stoner/desert rock to date, it fully deserves to be on your playlist.
We’re treated to seven tracks here, opening with Bitter, a stonkingly catchy little number – think Weezer’s timeless Buddy Holly? The image is reinforced by Holden’s vocals, that hint of bubblegum rock that is such an insidious earworm. Pacey, smooth harmonies and a pretty impressive lead solo towards the end that unfortunately seems mixed well down the production – you have to strain a bit to fully appreciate it. Great stuff though. Caged Animal comes in in a nicely beefy fashion before swirling down into a sumptuous melody and the trademark smooth vocals – this is psych/desert rock at its most dreamy. The collective then wind up the tempo with some tasty fuzz riffs, warbly keys, always so tuneful and such harmonies.
Fire Dance is very different – a heavy psych groove with grungey riffery and incessant drums and bass that becomes hypnotic over the length of this number, augmented by the floaty, down-key vocals. Gold Lion has a hollow, echoing feel to it, before infectious melodies grab you again. It’s simultaneously ponderous and charmingly poppy, this mix of tight harmonies and stoner riffs really hitting the spot. I’ll Be Just Fine is the “taster” track off the recent Copper Feast Feast Volume 1 sampler album, and it’s a scorcher – superbly blended lead lines and fuzz chords working their magic on me from the first notes. Such a strong track!
To my mind, Impossible again has a slightly muddy mix for the lead guitar, there’s some nice work here that goes almost unnoticed and I’d prefer it to be higher up in the mix? The vocals are sort of semi-spoken, like a chant on top of the fuzz platform, before it builds organically from the keys-led bridge towards a beefy, heavy-weight conclusion. Last up is Scared, opening with a sparser, brooding vibe that opens out into the signature fuzz riffs, more great percussion, more carefully constructed harmonies. Again it builds into a sort of reverbed, distorted 70’s Sabbath+organ climax that is such a great way to end.
So, to conclude, this is a fascinating and richly layered album with lots of variety and lots of twists along the way. Paul Hoden’s vocals are sometimes full-on, sometimes dreamily laid-back but always melodic and controlled. Nice chunky riffs, solid percussion, beefy bass lines, supplemented by bursts of tasty keys all form an enjoyable and accessible album that deserves recognition for the classic slab of melodic stoner/desert rock that it is – indulge yourselves!
PS – I couldn’t find any video evidence of this album, so here’s a piece of lunacy from an earlier time!
