Indie Music Album Reviews

LOST FOXES - Welcome to Kiff

8/31/2022

Lost Foxes

Welcome To Kiff
self-released; 2022

3.7 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Lost Foxes is a young band that recently released Welcome To Kiff. They mention the EP is about “escaping a city called Kiff. Kiff has an oppressive government and the story is about a band of three citizens trying to escape the clutches of the City of Kiff.”

The EP starts with an intro called “Intro.” It sounds cinematic and electronic. An arpeggiated synth melds with sub bass notes and other elements. It’s got an epic quality to it and attempts to set the stage for what’s ahead.

The next track “My People” is a hip-hop inspired song. There’s digital piano, synth bass and electronic drums. The rapping is fast but there’s no hook to the song. There’s however a breakdown of sorts that leads to the best part of the song around the two-minute mark. The song explodes with a number of elements including spliced up vocal phrases. Cool track.

“Live” is a completely different style and genre. This is a ballad. The instrumentation felt almost entirely digital. There are mostly airy elements and a good amount of reverb. The singing is emotive and I was picturing the vocalist by a piano.

“FIVE MARKS” is more of an emotive rock song. There’s some guitar on this song, a metronome tight drum beat, some atmosphere and vocals. I noticed there was a vocal that was detuned about an octave against the lead. This is probably the highlight on the album. The vocals are memorable and the production was inventive.

“Stay Alive” is the most experimental song. The manipulation of the vocals is so much on this song starts to feel like any other elements. I liked the beat and production on this song and it is another highlight. The song is also quite cinematic and a slow burn and a dark ominous soundscape emerges.
“The CYLINDER” is sort of a hybrid between rock and electronic music. There aren’t any vocals on this song. The focal point sounds like a lead guitar. This song is the most post-rock inspired. They close with “Outro” which is an experimental piece with heavy electronics. This is another cinematic song which closes out the EP.

As a producer for about twenty-five years at this point I can tell this is a young band that is still figuring out their sound. They have a lot of ideas but they don’t have a signature sound. This sounded more like a mixtape than an EP from one group. There’s hip-hop, ballads, electronic music and rock but they don’t tie these songs together.

Overall, I thought this was a solid start. Some of the ideas work really well and occasionally hit some emotive parts like on “FIVE MARKS.” I have a feeling this is just the start for the young band. I look forward to hearing more in the not too distant future.