Emo/rock band Foxing announced that they’ll be releasing a new record called Draw Down the Moon on August 6, 2021 via Hopeless Records/Grand Paradise. They have shared three singles from it so far, including the album’s crescendoing closer “Speak With the Dead,” a catchy pop song called “Go Down Together” and a new single titled “Where the Lightning Strikes Twice.”

The new song is an epic, progressive track about luck and second chances. Frontman Conor Murphy sings, “With everything we gave it/It’s hard not to feel devastated/But with you not a day went wasted.” The drums chug like a Muse track, with melodic guitars, cinematic synths and an anthemic chorus to match. It grows in energy as the song picks up momentum, ending with a theatrical final chorus.

While Foxing is best known for their introspective emo roots on 2013’s The Albatross, 2015’s Dealer and to a lesser extent, 2018’s transitionary release Nearer My God, Draw Down the Moon will see them turning their gaze outward. Murphy explains, “It’s about the idea of your cosmic significance. The way you feel like a tiny speck in the grand scheme of the universe, that’s a feeling everybody has. You can get lost thinking about how small you are. But [Draw Down the Moon] subverts that a bit to explore how your connection to people and places and ideas is what binds you to the universe and reality.”

The ten-track record doesn’t stick to abstract cosmic themes, choosing instead to frame human problems like financial struggles, living situations, trust, commitment, success, luck, vulnerability, sexuality, aging and death into the context of our place in the cosmos. Murphy clarifies, “With each of them, the intention is to recognize that you are one small speck of the universe, but also that you’re surrounded by these other small specks, and your connectivity to them is what gives you purpose and meaning.”

As evidenced by the giant difference in tones between “Speak With the Dead” and “Go Down Together,” along with everything Murphy has said about the project, Draw Down the Moon is sure to be at least as eclectic as their last album. “Generally, I think everyone grows with us,” Murphy commented. “We have such a dedicated fanbase that they’re aging with us and following us as our taste changes. I was 18 when we were writing The Albatross, straight out of high school. My priorities were very different than they are ten years later, as I’m 27 going on 28. Out of high school, you feel it’s important to write about relationships and unrequited love and studying abroad. Then, as you grow, your perspective changes. Now, I’m at the point where I’m consistently having existential crises. But I think people have scaled with us.”

“I’ve been in a place in my life for a long time of deep resentment for religion, specifically Catholicism,” Murphy continues, “but I felt like on this one we explored that idea of magic and ritual on a deeper level than just fiction. I value that so much now. There are no life lessons in the record. It’s just saying: It’s OK to feel like this. We are all insignificant, but everyone around us is so insignificant, and together, we actually make up all of reality in the universe.”

Guitarist Eric Hudson has a similar outlook. “It feels like a natural evolution of what we initially set out to do,” he adds. “We always tried to be very ambitious, musically, but the music is always the backdrop for what’s being said lyrically.”

Draw Down the Moon Tracklist:

1. 737
2. Go Down Together
3. Beacons
4. Draw Down the Moon
5. Where The Lightning Strikes Twice
6. Bialystok
7. At Least We Found The Floor
8. Cold Blooded
9. If I Believed In Love
10. Speak With The Dead