Review: Foxes in Fiction - Ontario Gothic
By Jordan Matthiass, Contributor
[Orchid Tapes; 2014]
Rating: 8/10
Key Tracks: “Into the Fields,” “Ontario Gothic”
What an exciting label Orchid Tapes is. Bedroom sensibilities and a progressive mission statement? Check. A diverse stable of artists excited to represent the brand? Check. A label head who actually makes fantastic albums on their own? Double check.
Foxes in Fiction is the other baby of label creator Warren Hildebrand, who is the project’s sole constant member. Warren does almost everything, only calling in new members, such as Sam Ray of Teen Suicide or indie star Owen Pallett, when he feels like doing something extra substantial. And boy, is Ontario Gothic that.
On his sophomore album, Hildebrand narrows down his stylistic aims to be more digestible than those of Foxes in Fiction’s debut LP, Swung from the Branches, which had recurring forays into tape loops and sound collage. While experimentalism may be flashy, this record's slighty sleepier take on the style works well.
Ontario Gothic is a fuzzy, glowing haze that burns bright and fast, snuffing out after a scant thirty minutes. During the journey, shimmers of translucent keyboard and gentle strings flutter over the spectral, effeminate vocals of Hildebrand, who effects a timbre echoing (almost literally) that of Beach House’s Victoria Legrand or The Antlers’ Peter Silberman. Attaining thick atmosphere is the prime directive of Foxes in Fiction and the mark is hit stunningly.
While “warm” is a nebulous term used by vinyl junkies and audiophiles to hint at a sublime quality of music that may or may not actually exist, show anyone this album and they will agree that it is the warmest thing they have ever heard. The high and low ends of Ontario Gothic are so thickly padded with reverb and otherworldly fuzz that anything approaching a screech or a hum is instantly washed away into a sea of liquid etherea.
Due to its bite-size length and overwhelmingly cohesive structure, it ultimately seems pointless to try breaking down Foxes in Fiction’s disc of marbled dream pop magic into individual pieces. But when looking for them, one can find a notable few cuts that peek their heads above the swelling fog to make their distinctive presence known.
On the first half of this LP lives “Into the Fields,” a jubilant foray into bright tonality that opens with a childlike key riff, repeated ad infinitum as a fugue of airy, barely-there vocals creep in on all sides and beautifully lo-fi electronic drums slowly come to life. Were there a single track that best sums up the “warm” tone of this record, it would be this one. Grab the vinyl pressing and cry as everything around you melts.
A kindred counterpoint to “Into the Fields,” this album’s title track briefly shifts the album’s tone toward overt pop, a change welcomed by the time the preceding 20 minutes start to produce heavy eyelids. Owen Pallett’s lush string arrangement sings over the head-bobbingly positive undercurrent of arpeggiation and major chords that “Ontario Gothic” brings about.
Taking cues from retro dream pop and modern home recording oeuvres, Ontario Gothic is a pea-soup fog of past and present executed in a way only a small, dynamic project like Foxes in Fiction could. Give this to someone larger and it would sound overwrought; someone smaller and they wouldn’t be able to pull off the right atmosphere. As it stands, Ontario Gothic is a successful analogue for waking up in the middle of the night and staring bleary-eyed at the beautiful stars above.
