Foxhole have a great website. It’s really quite lovely. Tiny sprites cascade down the page depicting snowflakes. In the both the back and foreground there are white trees. Other than the few tables which supply Foxhole news, that’s about it. It’s this simplicity, however, that perhaps alludes to Foxhole’s aesthetic. Although the aforementioned digital snow shower is merely a simulacrum, its represented process remains unchanged; as with weather generically, its appearance is typically taken for granted and its mechanics are hidden under its candour. The process, however, the natural development of a geographical system, even on a basic level, is remarkably humbling (Edumacation kids, stay in school). And that’s basically Foxhole; albeit in a tenuous nutshell. Although We The Wintering Tree, their debut full length, was littered with melancholic subtlety that flittered with genius, the composition as a whole didn’t flow with the subtlety that its minimalist arrangements deserved. This problem, however, is solved simply on their follow up; Push/Pull encases solid, mature work in only five tracks clocking in at half the runtime of their debut.

Opener “Wake Up, Get Dressed, We’re Sinking” meanders through a remarkably simple riff, occasionally dropping octaves, before distorting the entire piece with feedback and random fuzz. It even has a brass breakdown at the end. On the surface, that’s pretty much all there is to it. Its composition, however, is utterly captivating; the arrangement is similar to the formula that Explosions In The Sky siphon so readily and effectively. It’s only Foxhole’s urgency that really distinguishes the two bands. Hitting every peak, flawlessly flowing into each breakdown, the sounds that Foxhole produce are unbelievably tight. “Wake Up…” is a genuinely addictive icebreaker and a mercilessly brilliant introduction for the remaining thirty minutes.

What follows next is perhaps the most literal example of Push/Pull’s hypnotic tendencies. “Torrents” doesn’t so much as start by its own accord, moreover, it’s caught up in “Wake Up…”’s aural flow, and instead of collapsing under the roaring pressure, it bursts into momentous, driving life pulverising the leftover stream with a colossal kick drum that threatens to steal album’s soul right before your ears. Despite “Portsmouth” offering brass and orchestral relief, to middling and infuriatingly lacklustre effect, “Forgiving Monarch” makes like a Temporary Residence ‘Best of’ compilation squeezed into six stirring and inspiring minutes of instrumental loveliness; building up, breaking down and subsequently soaring into the stratosphere with beautifully layered shimmering guitar lines. Undoubtedly the album’s highlight.

The esoteric aesthetic that Foxhole have created for themselves is both impressive and appealing. We The Wintering Tree built a notable and curious miasmic stage for their brand of post-rock, but Push/Pull is the record that defines and expands their taut sound. By simplifying and shortening the content they have crafted an infinitely more accessible record and one that simultaneously retains their avant garde inclinations.

-Alex Bradshaw