When listening to Foxy Shazam’s latest effort, Foxy Shazam, one can’t help but ask themselves: What is going on here? Lyrically, the album’s material goes from traditional rock fodder of unrequited love to a one sided discussion about the sexual orientation of the band’s lead singer — and a few places in between. Musically, the band’s sound can be described as either trite or musical experimentation gone awry.
On “Wanna Be Angel”, lead singer Eric Nally declares that he doesn’t want anybody to label him or his band as punk. One has to wonder first why people are considering Foxy Shazam punk in the first place, and second, one has to wonder why wouldn’t a band want the stamp of approval from the punk community? When Nally is done making his point about the classification of his band he then turns his attention to hipsters. According to Nally’s lyrics, all Hipsters everywhere seem to think that he is gay, and Nally is pleased to inform them that this not the truth. There should be a few remarks about this topic in particular: For starters, it’s a bad idea to slam a potential segment of your fan base. Additionally, one could only imagine that making such a public statement about one’s orientation would lead others to conclude that perhaps there is something in the closet.
“Count Me Out” is annoyingly catchy. With the seemingly random use of choirs and big, stadium rock-esque choruses, it is an example of why terrible music always seems to dominate the Billboard charts. “Bye, Bye Symphony” features generic rock music, mush-mouthing vocals, and repetitive use of the cringe worthy line, “Life’s a bitch, but she’s totally doable.” During “Unstoppable” the over use of sound effects renders the song almost unlistenable. Imagine Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound technique taken to the most literal interpretation in which a band seems to be using as many notes as possible at any given moment resulting in a total separation of song and audience. Only Nally’s voice, by virtue of its power, is heard clearly, but what the man is singing is up for debate. Lastly, “Oh Lord” offers random trumpets, retro white-boy funk, and vocals which sound like a cross between Freddy Mercury and Geddy Lee, accompanied by further pointless orchestration.
In short, Foxy Shazam is a band trying too hard not to be the band that tries too hard. Furthermore, somebody should notify them that the misdirected use of sophisticated song and music structure does not in turn make one’s music more sophisticated.