Understanding one’s mortality and defunct place in the world typically leads to disillusionment. However, it’s through this vapid feeling that Foxing uses to create a new perspective centered around hope and its consequences. In their 2024 self titled release, Foxing creates a distinct and singular sound that rocks the soundscape of the modern emo scene.

Foxing has released music for more than a decade. Since their meteoric debut record The Albatross released in 2014, the band has remained a household name within the emo scene. With a distinct sound built around vocalist Conor Murphy’s incredible vocal range, the band created a blend of chamber rock with emo lyricism. 10 years later after three album releases, the band took their frustrations with the music industry out unto the world.

The album is built around the band’s own feeling of ineptitude in a deeply monetized society. In a world where art is ranked by its streaming numbers, the meaning goes away. Foxing as a whole feels lost, being just another number amongst thousands of artists making pennies for the art that they care about. Creating an environment of anxiety where each new song invokes a price tag not an emotion.

Foxing opens with the track “Secret History,” with sounds reminiscent of a static buzz from an old Panasonic television, that erupts into a distorted burst of sound. Coiling back into itself for one verse before exploding into a deluge of blunt riffs and hard drums. With Murphy screaming “make your mother proud, you’ve got to,” and “sharpen those dead dreams.” Tonally the album follows this pattern of composure to dysfunction, of mental breakdowns to forced composure, because what will the neighbors think?

This feeling comes to head with the following track “Hell 99,” where the band compounds the loss of artistic meaning with the need to be successful. Lead guitarist Eric Hudson mocks the path the music industry has taken screaming “Carson MTV, Bizkit NYE, f*ck f*ck f*ck.” The band questions where society has gone; how does Limp Bizkit dominate culture through hot dog flavored water. They now live in a world where “the minutes have deflated in their value next to nothing.” Driven by corporate greed, music has fallen into a financial hole. It’s a career where an artist either develops an assembly line of their product, or misses six months of rent trying to create something that matters.

This anxiety is reflected by the instrumentation throughout the record. Tonally the guitars and samples develop a distinct soundscape in each track. In which the drums and bass hold their own, but accompany the rabid breakdowns with their own ferocity. It’s a record that thrives on contorting itself into new singular forms and enthralling the listener. Baked in DIY this record presents itself as an example of being successful. Simply by doing can an artist succeed in an industry out to get them.