Foals emerged a couple of years ago with one of the most popular albums of summer 2008. Emerging off the back of the wave caused by nu-ravers The Klaxons they merged the genres of dance and indie further with a poppy twang which filled a host of dancefloors for a few months.

Having toured and rested the band return refreshed from that haven of raving lunatics…Oxford. The five-piece have toyed with their sound a tad, but the result may leave some wondering why.

The essence of their debut masterpiece is here. Tracks like opener Blue Blood sample the twinkling guitar riffs that provided much of the spine of 2008’s Antidotes while What Remains provides us with a dark undercurrent and perhaps a mirror image of everything that was sweet and boppy about the original.

But there is a feeling of trying for something different throughout the record. There are tracks like This Orient which leave you a little bewildered as to what the point of it all was. Spanish Sahara takes us on a psychedelic journey through a slushy backwater that makes movement very difficult indeed. Imagine trying to walk through a giant slush puppy and you can imagine the problem.

The whole concept just leaves a feeling of unfinished business. Perhaps a little harsh but it leans neither far enough towards their well-known recipes now a whole new cookbook to be considered either. Messy pretty much sums it up.

LEIGH SANDERS Rating: 2/5