By Charlie Maybee
What does the fox say? Indie folk musician, Kellyn Marie Goler, suggests that perhaps they have more to say than meets the ear in her new single “Foxes”. Taking a storytelling approach to themes like memory and nostalgia, she paints the humble fox as a metaphorical guide to take us through these complex neurological practices.
“I was struck by this idea one day that foxes remember their past lives, and that’s why their eyes always have that little sparkle, and they seem to know a little more than we do. From there, I wondered whether they might usher everything from one life to the next, like little soul guides. Musically, ‘Foxes’ developed naturally from there into a chill, indie-folk vibe.”
The song is very sweet in nature, using laid back guitars and gentle synthesizers to support this thoughtful meditation on the memory, spirituality, and legacies of our furry friend the fox. In second verse, Goler sings “find the footsteps in the hollow to know the score / tell your father you’ll always follow what came before” hinting deeper familial legacies and traditions that are passed down among foxes in the same way humans do.
Overall, this is a contemplative song that is incredibly grounded in nature and steeped in questions about the connectivity between human and animal experiences. It also gives a nice reversal on the fox as a trickster archetype – here, their high level of intelligence allows for a different kind of character development. Goler manages to subvert narrative expectations while also giving us a dreamy, ethereal musical composition.
“Foxes” is available now on major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, or find it on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture Playlist on Spotify.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
