A lot of complaints about the second The Proper Ornaments album Foxhole. It seems to come from the same quarters that didn’t like the way Jesus and Mary Chain went from the fuzz-laden Psychocandy to more subdued melodies and the sound of Darklands.
And the reasons could be considered as obvious, because The Proper Ornaments had a similar change in sound from their 2014 debut Wooden Head - there it was all fuzz and rock, here it is all mid-tempo melodies, mid-Sixties and stuck in the garage turning into the late sixties and The Beatles, Love, The Grateful Dead, but with a British twist, leaving Americana mostly on the other side of the Ocean.
So what about the complaints? Basically, as far as I’m concerned, forget them! Sure, Wooden Head was a great piece of garage tinged psychedelia (but then, so was Psychocandy), but no matter how removed Foxhole is removed from their debut, on Foxhole, The Proper Ornaments are able to deliver some great, you can easily say, late night mellow psych sounds.
Of course, you can always reference and compare the sound of this side project with the two bands that the key players James Hoare and Max Oscarnold come from - Veronica Falls and Toy. Sure, the references are there, but all in all, the sound of Foxhole is more its own than that on Wooden Head.
What is quite interesting is the fact that the sound the band arrived at on this album only became intentional after it had technical difficulties in recording it, the change of direction partly stemming out of need, rather than a definite pre-arranged concept.
Which might also be the reason why the music on Foxhole sounds so unforced and natural, as something that just came out of sub conscience. Songs like" Memories" (one of the singles) and "Jeremy’s Song" have this melodic flow that just lets you enjoy instead of think too much.
If any more recent references that the Sixties come to mind, it could be the lost gems produced by The Kingsbury Manx. Hopefully, The Proper Ornaments and Foxhole will not be forgotten so soon.
