Winnipeg’s Fox Lake is one of those bands that needs little introduction if you’re a consistent reader here, as their infectious blend of emo, math rock, and post-hardcore have showed up time and time again, especially after featuring on our recent IX: U.S. East Coast // Midwest compilation.
In fact, if you’ve checked out the comp already and made it to the Fox Lake track (it’s like halfway through thirty tracks so we understand if you’re taking your time), you probably realize that “The Incredible Journey” is indeed the same song – that’s because we sort of took their unreleased single and ran with it.
Check it out below:
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Yep. The release of our ninth compilation will forever resonate with some of our lowest-output, least-motivated moments ever. Due to our own health and the health of the people around us, we were in so many different medical facilities and in so much debt from it that the first half 2024 it was completely paralyzing. As we thawed from our captive stasis just in time to release the comp in the dead of summer, looking back, indeed it was an “Incredible Journey.”
Somehow in that journey, we got a hold of Fox Lake’s unreleased song for the compilation, but completely fell off the map until the whole damn thing was out there with zero communication with them, as was the case with a lot of the bands.
So technically, it’s been out, but now it’s really out, and has an official video as well. The video is a collage of sorts, featuring graffiti, old time-y turn of the century footage (the 20th century), and heaps of staring. As abstract as that may sound, it’s actually a perfect backdrop for the song, let alone the story of the comp. The vocals are melancholic and tense, but hopeful and nostalgic as well – the drums gallop and compound-group their way through swirling guitars and chunky bass, reminding us of early 2000’s post-hardcore like Thursday and As Cities Burn more than they ever have which is an interesting flavor for the band. They usually keep it sweet, but hearing them play with some more savory material has us super excited once again for whatever the band cooks up next.
Get more Fox Lake here.
(Thanks for reading! If you’re looking for more music, check out our Bandcamp compilations here. If you like us, or possibly even love us, donations are always appreciated at the Buy Me A Coffee page here, but if you’re in a generous mood you can also donate to folks like Doctors Without Borders, PCRF, and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that could probably use it more. Thanks again!)