''Total Life Forever'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by British

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

band

Foals A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal ...

, released on 10 May 2010 through

Transgressive Records Transgressive Records is an independent record label based in London, formed in 2004. Its founders, Tim Dellow and Toby L, first met at a Bloc Party gig organised by Toby's Rockfeedback website. The label's debut release was "1am" by the Subwa ...

. Prior to the album's release, the band described it as sounding "like the dream of an eagle dying". It was produced by Luke Smith, and was recorded at Svenska Grammofon Studion in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. Upon its release, the album charted in numerous countries worldwide, including number eight in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

Promotion and release

In January 2009, the band released three semi-instrumental segments of tracks through the band's MySpace profile, giving an insight into the band's recording process. A short three date tour of the United Kingdom took place in April 2009. During July 2009, the band played an intimate show for Rockfeedback, as a warm up for future festival shows and a chance to debut songs from their second album. On 2 July, the band supported Blur during their reunion show in

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Gre ...

, playing an untitled new song which frontman

Yannis Philippakis Yannis Philippakis (Greek: Ιωάννης "Γιάννης" Φιλιππάκης) (born 23 April 1986) is the lead singer and guitarist of the British indie rock band Foals. Early life Born to a Greek father and a South African Jewish mother, ...

stated was unfinished. Later the same month, the band appeared at the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused B ...

festival, performing new songs "Total Life Forever" and "Dirty Waves". Both songs had been previously aired during the band's appearance at

The Breeders The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherso ...

-curated

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...

festival in May 2009. In September 2009, the band performed at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

as part of

' fifth anniversary, performing new songs "Spanish Sahara", "Death Surf" and one other untitled track. The album's title was revealed on 24 February 2010.

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

premiered the promotional track "Spanish Sahara" on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

, naming the track his "Hottest Record in the World" for 1 March 2010. From 8pm the same day, a

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of the track was made available to download from Foals' official website. The accompanying video was added to Foals'

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

page on 2 March 2010. A limited number vinyl of "Spanish Sahara" was released on 17 April 2010, to mark the 2010

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

. In support of the album, the band announced a fourteen date tour of Europe throughout April–May 2010, including dates in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. These were the band's first live performances of the year. Following "Spanish Sahara"'s limited release, the album's first official single was announced as "This Orient", released on 3 May 2010. The track reached number 97 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Second single "Miami" was then released on 4 July 2010. It reached No. 127 on the same chart. Third single "Blue Blood" was released on 8 November 2010.

Reception

''Total Life Forever'' was very well received; many commented how the band's music has matured from their debut album. Review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gave the album a normalised rating of 78 out of 100, indicating "generally favourable reviews". '' Q'' magazine's Rupert Howe was more reserved in his praise. Calling it "the schizophrenic second album", Howe opined that "while this album carries more instrumental and emotional heft than its predecessor, something remains off-balance". Besides being shortlisted for the 2010

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the ...

, ''Total Life Forever'' brought the band several nominations for the 2011 NME awards, including best album, best track ("Spanish Sahara") and best album artwork.

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

Foals *

– vocals, guitar, drums *Jack Bevan – drums *Jimmy Smith – guitar *Walter Gervers – bass, backing vocals *Edwin Congreave – keyboard, backing vocals Additional musicians *Caroline Wickberg – additional vocals on "Black Gold" and "This Orient" Technical personnel *

– art direction *Big Active – artwork *Foals – artwork *Tinhead – artwork *Ferg Peterkin – engineering, programming *Stephen Marcussen – mastering *Steve Gullick – photography *Dave Ma – photography *Luke Smith – producer *

Mike Crossey Mike Crossey (born 1979) is a Northern Irish record producer, songwriter, and mixing engineer. He produced the debut single by Arctic Monkeys, collaborating with them over two albums. He is known for his ongoing relationship with The 1975 in a ...

– producer, recording assistant on "Blue Blood" *Daniel Rejmer – engineering on "Spanish Sahara" *Catherine Marks – engineering, mixing on "Spanish Sahara" *

Alan Moulder Alan Moulder (born 11 June 1959) is an English record producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer. Early life Moulder was born on 11 June 1959 in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Boston Grammar School. He had an interest in music fro ...

– mixing on "Spanish Sahara"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

''Total Life Forever'' Official Website
{{Authority control 2010 albums Foals (band) albums Sub Pop albums Transgressive Records albums Music in Oxford