Sunday at Foxwoods

by John Keefe, Gregory James, Boys Like Girls, Martin Johnson, Jamel Hawke

Overview

Re-emerging after an extended hiatus, Boys Like Girls recapture the euphoria of falling in love with pop music for the first time on their exuberant fourth album, 2023's Sunday at Foxwoods. The Massachusetts emo-pop outfit initially hit the TRL jackpot in 2007 with their single "The Great Escape" off their self-titled debut. That led to a duet with Taylor Swift on 2009's Love Drunk, a coup that helped the album crack the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. Nonetheless, an ever-changing musical landscape brought challenges as the band (who were all in their early twenties when they started out) matured. Following a foray into country-tinged rock on 2012's Crazy World, they decided to take a break. In the meantime, lead singer Martin Johnson embarked on a solo career, co-penning songs for a bevy of name artists and delivering two of the more criminally underappreciated pop albums of the past decade as the Night Game. Those records found Johnson building upon the driving guitar pop of Boys Like Girls, blending in sleek adult-contemporary and album rock aesthetics. It's an addictive vibe he brings to Sunday at Foxwoods, an album recorded at his Nashville studio that finds the band consciously looking back on their youth, waxing poetic over past rock glories, and yet trying to forge a more thoughtful path forward as adults. They explicitly address their humble punk beginnings on "The Outside," a ringing ode to the early-aughts rock scene, Dickies and Chucks included. One of the more magical aspects of the sound Johnson has embraced since the band started is his affection for big '80s pop hooks and production, an aesthetic that finds him evoking the dance-rock of the Police on "Language" and a synthy, Sammy Hagar-era Van Halen wallop on the infectious "Blood and Sugar." All of these songs are also expertly rendered, mixing pounding club beats right next to searing rock-guitar riffs and sharp slices of day-glo keyboards. With Sunday at Foxwoods, Boys Like Girls have made an album of rise-to-the-occasion anthems that play like the soundtrack to their own coming-of-age movie. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/2024
Label:	Fearless
UPC:	0888072569249
Rank:	41567

Tracks

1. Sunday At Foxwoods
2. The Outside
3. Language
4. Blood and Sugar
5. New Love
6. Miracle
7. Cry
8. Monday Morning
9. Physical
10. Hourglass
11. Story of a Lifetime
12. Brooklyn State of Mind
13. Lost In Wonderland

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Boys Like Girls   Primary Artist
John Keefe   Primary Artist,Drums,Vocals (Background)
Martin Johnson   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals,Keyboards,Percussion,Synthesizer,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Jamel Hawke   Primary Artist,Guitar,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Gregory James   Primary Artist,Bass,Vocals (Background)
Danen Rector   Keyboards,Percussion,Vocals (Background),Guitar
Naomi Cooke Johnson   Vocals (Background)
Riley Owens   Vocals (Background)
Rachel Braig   Vocals (Background)
Max Challis   Vocals (Background)
Abby Williams   Vocals (Background)
Oliver Kraus   Strings
Rob Moose   Strings
Brandon Paddock   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Ilya Toshinskiy   Guitar (Acoustic)
Spencer Stewart   Vocals (Background)
Jeffery Jordan   Vocals (Background)
Jake Torrey   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Danen Rector   Engineer,Programming,Mixing
Chris Gehringer   Mastering
Will Quinnell   Assistant Mastering Engineer
Oliver Kraus   Engineer
Rob Moose   Engineer
Chris Steffen   Engineer
Ryland Blackinton   Engineer,Additional Production
Peter Thomas   Producer
Matt Huber   Mixing
Martin Johnson   Mixing,Engineer,String Arrangements
Brian Lucey   Mastering
Brandon Paddock   Mixing,Engineer,Programming,String Arrangements