RIFF RADIO: Foxes dances on her own for ‘The Kick’
Foxes (Louisa Rose Allen), courtesy.
It’s all finally starting to feel real for Louisa Rose Allen, better known as Foxes.
The Kick
Foxes
[PIAS], Feb. 11
“It’s so exciting, I’m actually releasing music that I’ve written really recently, essentially in lockdown,” Allen said. “It’s music I’ve written in the isolation of my own mind in my house.”
Allen is prepping the release of her third studio album, The Kick, a record she created entirely from her flat in England. The twist here is that the album isn’t stripped down or filled with dark overtones. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The album is filled with soaring anthemic pop, dance floor energy and a sense of life and fun. Allen says that while writing the album, at times, she would need to dream up an entirely different reality than the one she was experiencing.
“It was really funny looking back, because obviously the music is quite dancey,” Allen says. “I just remember dancing around my kitchen, and if it made me want to dance in a pandemic, then I knew it was a good song.”
In finding inspiration for her writing, Allen looked back to her past as well as the future, musing of times when what once was could be again.
“I had really missed going on wild adventurous nights with friends, dancing and feeling free,” Louisa Rose Allen says. “I had to use my imagination a lot. I remember thinking that I’m making music that, when we can all dance together again, I want to dance to.”
While the escapist inspiration may have come naturally, the process wasn’t quite as easy. Allen initially pushed back at the idea of recording entirely over video calls and using other remote technology to put the record together.
“Music should be made with other human beings and it should be with other energies, not on your own with your iPhone feeling slightly mental,” she says.
Allen would eventually find her phone provided tremendous freedom and flexibility. She was able to jot down ideas and record parts quickly. Once she met producer Ghost Culture, the deal was sealed. The two locked in and got the album done at a rapid pace.
Without a traditional studio, Allen says she realized how much she could accomplish by herself and became more independent—even if at first she struggled with doubt. That’s when she had trouble figuring out whether what she was making was good.
Music wasn’t always necessarily the first path for Louisa Rose Allen, whose sister convinced hero pursue the art. Foxes honed her chops at open mic nights.
“I didn’t necessarily feel like I was good enough,” she says. “Some people obviously believed in me because people are still listening.”
Now’s she’s ready to perform again, starting with a U.K. tour that will coincide with the album’s release. She’s had funning planning set lists with the three album’s she’s got under her belt.
“I want to go to a show that makes me want to forget all my inhibitions and let go and enjoy the music,” she says.
As exciting as it is to perform, Allen says when she lives for the most is connecting with fans.
“I always feel like I’m the one who’s more nervous,” she says, laughing.
Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.