The second track to be taken from Part 2 of their “Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost” double album, ‘The Runner’ is aiming to create as much distance as possible from Part 1, going down the gritty, heavy riff route of their previous LPs.
For fans of their heavier tracks, ‘Inhaler’, ‘What Went Down’ and even ‘Mountain At My Gates’ at a push, ‘The Runner has that immediacy which those fans will flock to. The groove immediately screams Yannis bouncing with his legs pressed together, rocking a floral shirt buttoned 2/3s of the way, pointing that finger with a rolling arm gesture. But, to be honest, following tracks such as ‘White Onions’, ‘In Degrees’ and ‘Syrups’ on “Part 1”, it feels like a miss and as though we’ve heard this before. The fresh faces of “Part 1” are already appearing to fade away as Foals’ past jumps back into the spotlight, which will undoubtedly be a popular choice but leaves “Part 2” already feeling like we’ve heard it before, something you would never associate with the Oxford group.