My face does this “light-up, dumb-ass grin” thing whenever I come across a band that I really connect with, and when I stumbled onto PHOX, my face reacted instinctively. It’s kind of embarrassing, really. I saw a live video of “Laura (Oh, girl)”, and I was done for. I believe the word “smote” best describes the sentiment.
If you tried to put PHOX inside some sort of container and label them, they would tear their way out, laugh it off, then compose a sage seven-minute song about the woes of being boxed in — the band is one part quirk and two parts genius. The lead singer, Monica Martin, puts the fox into PHOX with her sultry, smooth vocals. The band is out of Wisconsin, so their sound has strong folk qualities, but soul has a definitive presence as well. Pop melodics and lively harmonies blend together to create a fun, yet masterful, work of art. In fact, if the band’s music were a painting, it would be extremely prismatic, abstract, and the words “the shit” would form when you squint.
PHOX has crammed this soulful, vibrant, brilliant pop into their latest 19-track release, Friendship. They inject their playful interludes between most songs, and the jaw-drop factor on a scale of 1-10 is 10.1. The best part, though, is that they’re young, so hopefully (fingers crossed) there’ll be more brilliance to follow. Check them out because you know everyone has a “light-up, dumb-ass grin” just dying to come out and play.