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Critic Reviews
90
Hang is the sound of a group of pop music pirates taking their nostalgia-steeped aesthetic to its gloriously overblown conclusion. Holding absolutely nothing back, Foxygen deliver an absurdly grandiose album that should not work nearly as well as it does.
9y
85
This is a pointedly unhip album, and that's part of what makes it so refreshing. Few other artists would embark on a project so absurdly lavish in fear that one wrong step would result in curdled cheese; Foxygen, thankfully, aren't so damn afraid.
9y
85
Utterly theatrical, it represents without presenting; evokes without mentioning; transports without moving. It's as fake as the time we're living in, and as fascinating as our own decadence.
9y
85
While Hang doesn’t explore much new ground, that’s never really been on Foxygen's agenda. It's a great return all the same.
9y
83
This is perhaps Foxygen’s most ambitious album to date, and few would suggest that the act’s played it safe thus far. But while the band’s overall discography has been a mixed bag, on Hang, Foxygen hits its stride, a well-oiled machine confident in its surfeit of songwriting abilities and wieldy powers.
9y
80
That’s perhaps ‘Hang’’s biggest accomplishment – reeling Foxygen back in and refocusing them for a brilliant and unexpected return to form.
9y
80
They go all in on Hang, so while it may draw its share of eye rolls, for those who play along, it's a triumph of extravagance and theatricality served with a wink and a chorus line.
9y
75
The album retains an unpredictability of sound while maintaining tight production and detailed compositions. Sometimes the intention is hard to locate through the madness but overall it is very entertaining.
9y
70
As Foxygen continue with their disparate series of throwback experiments, Hang finds them closer than ever to striking a balance between their wild, ambitious ideas and innate strengths.
9y
70
Hang is composed of clean, airy, carefully arranged symphonic pop, all recorded with the aid of a 40-plus-piece orchestra. This venture into polished non-rock styles robs Foxygen of some of their spontaneity.
9y
70
With Hang, Foxygen have proven their capacity for lavish spectacle, but they’re still at their best when they give themselves the freedom to roam.
9y
70
‘Hang’ is an incredibly optimistic album, one that runs on diggable campiness and flower power. It’s almost hilariously old-fashioned, but it’s adventurous enough to feel like something brand new.
9y
70
Shape-shifting singer-songwriters Sam France and Jonathan Rado make a triumphant return as Foxygen to deliver their most lavishly orchestrated set of songs yet.
8y
67
Hang is a firm declaration of emotional intensity.
9y
60
‘Hang’ is like an oversized bowl of mushy oatmeal: invigorating for just long enough to keep you from noticing how incredibly nauseous you’ve become.
9y
60
At first the wackiness is too much to digest ... Yet against the odds, Hang does reward patience – there’s a Todd Rundgren-esque devotion to melody throughout.
9y
59
Foxygen recorded all eight tracks on Hang with a symphony orchestra, giving the album a sense of technical accomplishment and musical depth that help mask the fact that these songs are mostly just a series of stylized poses from a band that doesn’t have a fixed identity of its own.
9y
58
There’s a dizzying amount of ideas flying around in Hang’s 33 minutes, but the vast majority of them aren’t developed enough for me to get anything concrete out of them.
9y
50
It all adds up to the feeling that Foxgen’s main talent is repurposing the past, and that they lack an original voice of their own.
9y
50
Hang appears as an album of ambition that outdoes itself so spectacularly that it appears as a jazzed up, Disney-esque caricature of its own end product.
9y
40
Sometimes, sheer ambition can render music too top-heavy to succeed. Hang, by Los Angeles duo Foxygen, is a case in point.
9y
20
That’s the crux of Hang - the orchestra tries so desperately to stage this cool retro show, but there are so many glaring holes in the script.
9y
This album from Foxygen doesn't quite stick the landing on the back half, but what we have here are still some really well-put together pop tracks.
GREAT
This one seems to be pretty polarizing. I've seen some scores from everywhere on the spectrum. Personally, this is one of my favorite Foxygen albums. I love the psychedelic baroque pop twist Hang brings to the table.
Comes off as a bit disingenuous and ironic with all the riffs on old pop music. Exhausting.
I REALLY enjoy On Lankershim though.
This album sounds so gigantic that it seems like I could be crushed under its weight at any moment.
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Track List
| 1 | Follow the Leader 4:13 | 85 |
| 2 | Avalon 3:46 | 80 |
| 3 | Mrs. Adams 4:29 | 73 |
| 4 | America 5:18 | 85 |
| 5 | On Lankershim 2:58 | 74 |
| 6 | Upon a Hill 1:37 | 60 |
| 7 | Trauma 4:44 | 75 |
| 8 | Rise Up 5:10 | 69 |
Total Length: 32 minutes
