Foxes - Glorious [Album Review]

Glorious is the début studio album from Foxes, (real name Louisa Rose Allen, from Southampton) and indeed, I had high expectations from the singer, who has previously featured as a guest artist on Zedd's 'Clarity' and had a few successful singles with 'Youth' and 'Let it Go For Tonight'. You can't help but feel a certain sense of apprehension when an album from a successful 'single' singer comes out, because you can't help but wonder whether the album will be cohesive and strong enough all-round, to be considered successful. Indeed it is questionable as to whether the album will indeed be entertaining enough, and make you want to listen to every track on the album repeatedly (often is the case that there are only actually a few songs that you end up 'liking'). Upon first listen, Glorious seems to be a rather cohesive album, with a solid structure and a continually identifiable theme of childhood; with the star stating herself that the album is a form of 'therapy' and is essentially 'her talking to herself'.

In regard to the track listing, the standard album features a total of 11 tracks to enjoy, whilst the deluxe version has an extra 4, with a live version of 'Clarity' also being available to listen to. This review shall be for the standard version, so if you are looking for a review include the deluxe versions, you'll have to look elsewhere (apologies!). The sixth track on the album is ‘Night Glo’, which features a beautiful piano accompaniment. Foxes' voice fits perfectly with the gentle melody and wistful lyrics, complimenting each chord. Particularly, we like the end of the chorus: ‘Just run through the night glo/ Drown out the voices/ And you know you don’t have to go’.    

Her popular hit ‘Holding Onto Heaven’ has an infectious quality that makes it thoroughly re-playable, with the mix of uplifting melodies masking the slightly melancholy undertones, giving the track more depth than may be noticeable, upon first listen. Foxes’ voice sky-rockets the track to new heights, making her mark on the track, and ensuring that she will indeed be Glorious. 

The best ‘unknown’ tracks from the album are indeed the beautifully composed ‘Night Glo’ and the soulful ‘Echo’, with ‘Counting The Saints’ coming in a firm third in the stakes. Allen’s voice on the latter is complimented by powerful drum sounds, which fortunately do not detract attention from the singer, but instead offer a suitable backing for her to showcase her vocal talents, of which she has plenty. The album features Foxes in all manner of singing, from wistful whispers, to full on power-performances and subtle murmurs; Allen is in her element for the most part, except on tracks where things seem to get a bit overwhelming, such as ‘Night Owls Early Birds’ and ‘Shaking Heads’, which featuring some rather overpowering instrumentals, with not enough strong vocal accompaniment. 

However, despite the vocal abilities of Allen and the strong singles that stud the album, Glorious can’t help but feel more than a little bit generic. This perhaps comes from the feeling that it is a little too polished, a little too perfect; there seems to be a lack of personality, despite the effort to make this personable from the singer. It feels as if this was meant to be something else, but ended up being glossed over and thoroughly commercialised in order to market a more general appeal, as opposed to being a more representative album, of the singer as an artist. Aside from a few memorable tracks, the album as a collective can’t help but feel a little lost and I fear as if the lack of personality makes it just a bit too similar to other pop albums that are out there despite the overall appeal of Foxes as an individual British singer. Many may have expected more from the singer on her first album, and this is perhaps a big ask; hopefully there will be more great things to come from Allen should there be a second album. Despite all of this, the redeeming factors of the album are the individual songs, which range from the undeniably whimsical (‘Night Glo’) to the upbeat dance tracks like ‘Let it Go For Tonight’ and the electro hits like the slightly sombre ‘Youth’ and the synth-pop ‘White Coats’. 

3 stars