Foxygen Strike All The Right Chords With “No Destruction”

Foxygen
“No Destruction”
Rating: 4.5 out 5 stars

Nostalgia plays an essential part of Foxygen’s aesthetic — at any given point throughout the 4 minutes and 56 seconds of new single “No Destruction,” the band channels Dylan, the Velvet Underground, Sticky Fingers-era Stones, and maybe even a little Pavement. But the bigger takeaway from the song is that sometimes the memory of a better time will only serve as a grim reminder of how much worse the present seems by comparison. Against a backdrop of richly textured, yet easy folk-rock, frontman Sam France addresses an estranged friend: “I hate to say I miss you/ ‘cause you don’t need me anymore.” It’s natural to grow apart from people, but as the song progresses, France’s frustrations only seem to intensify, reaching a boiling point as he sneers, “There’s no need to be an asshole/ You’re not in Brooklyn anymore.” Putting aside the East Coast vs. West Coast implications of the statement, there seems to be little chance of any reconciliation in France’s future. For a feel-bad anthem, though, the sunny and stoned grooves of “No Destruction” go a long way in numbing the pain.