Interplay

John Foxx And The Maths – Interplay (Metamatic Records)

Released Monday 21st March, 2011.

‘One of the finest electronic records you’ll hear in 2011.’ THE QUIETUS

‘Meeting of synth-fetishists is an unlikely triumph.’ 4/5 MOJO

‘In the fourth decade of his career, Foxx has released an album which easily equals the high points of his rich back catalogue.’ BBC MUSIC

‘One of the most enlightened synth records in years.’ 4/5 THE STOOL PIGEON

‘It somehow walks the tightrope between experimental electronica, the pop of synth groups such as Depeche Mode and the disciplined Krautrock of Neu!. Foxx is still
sounding relevant.’ 4/5 ART ROCKER

‎’John Foxx’s return is a masterclass in minimal grooves and icy vocals and he’s still as fresh as the new acts he’s inspired. The Maths really do add up.’ 4/5 NEWS OF THE WORLD

‘Forceful, stripped-down music that sounds as new as its old, and as imaginative as it is familiar.’ UNCUT

‘Like all the best electro, the mood is stark and eerie. Foxx is sounding like a sinister patriarch, ruler of an industrial wasteland. Age has afforded him an unsettling gravitas.’ 4/5 PINK PAPER

‘Synthesizer archivist Benge (aka The Maths) turns out to be a superb foil for Foxx. The driving Catwalk sashays and swaggers like Suicide doing early Roxy. The spidery synthesizer riff on Watching A Building On Fire, featuring Ladytron’s Mira Aroyo, insinuates and conspires. And if you want clues to possible futures, the bass weight of Shatterproof and The Running Man provide diagrams of post-dubstep pop.’ THE WIRE

‘Scintillating, with simple economy and pert, Kraftwerkian arrangements . . . Interplay is a great album of compelling electro-pop songs which shows that the old synth wave is as vital as the new.’ 4/5 RECORD COLLECTOR

‘A beguiling exercise in synth-pop discipline . . . Fellow effects unit fiend Mira Aroya from Ladytron lends support on the icily seductive Watching A Building On Fire, but it’s the squalling futurescape of Destination that points a tractor beam to your heart in the name of intoxicating robo-pop bliss.’ CLASSIC ROCK

‎’Now that John Foxx appears to be getting more of the credit he deserves for helping shape the present day’s electronic music, his movements are followed with greater interest. Interplay is a consistently strong piece of work, as good as anything Foxx wrote when striking out on his own in the early 80s. That he should be more relevant now than he was then is perhaps no surprise, but it is a welcome truth indeed.’ 4/5 MUSIC OMH

‘Fresh and powerful. Tracks move from glistening-crisp and growling-fierce to tender, the latter mood captured by the melancholic beauty of ‘A Falling Star’ and ‘The Good Shadow’.’ 8/10 CLASH MAGAZINE

You can buy Interplay through the following outlets:

TOWNSEND (still some ltd edition digi-packs left)