Start Listening To: Foxette Moxy
In the shadow of his collaborative work with Temples lies an artist who thrives on the unexplored, ever-eager to peel back the layers of his creative psyche.
In the heart of Kettering, amidst the undulating Midlands, resides a musical wanderer named Adam Smith. He's a man of many musical facets, known not just for his communal exploits with the illustrious Temples but also as the solo enigma, Foxette Moxy. This Q&A serves as a portal for those yet uninitiated into the otherworldly sounds of Foxette Moxy. It's your entry ticket to a realm where music isn't a stagnant pond but a fluid river, ever-evolving and unpredictable. Smith's solo venture, a manifestation of his personal exploration of music, is a cauldron of experimentation, where inspiration often emerges from the pages of literature.
For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
Hello, I'm Adam Smith from Kettering in the midlands. I make a lot of different types of music, some with Temples, some on my own and some collaborating with other people. When composing songs for myself I often experiment with different approaches to songwriting, often leaning on books as inspiration.
Foxette Moxy is your solo project, separate from your work with Temples. What inspired you to embark on this solo journey, and how does it differ from your collaborative work with the band?
Having always written music for myself, writing most days, I've amassed a lot of recorded material, but I've never released anything properly before. I'm not sure what was holding me back, but whatever it was is no longer there. Foxette Moxy differs in many ways from Temples, mainly in songwriting style and approach, but they're also not a million miles apart.
Your upcoming tracks ‘Archipelago’ and ‘Soup’ were self-recorded in various locations, including a haunted cottage. Could you share some memorable experiences or challenges you faced during the recording process in these unique settings?
The songs were written in many different locations mainly because I find myself moving house and location pretty much every year, I can't seem to sit still. The main challenge was mixing and mastering on my own. It's difficult to stop mixing once you start, so underlining the final version is often a tough thing to do. The mixes are far from perfect, but I quite like the way they turned out.
‘Archipelago’ is described as a song that places our minds as individual islands in a larger collective mind. Can you elaborate on the themes and concepts explored in this track, and what questions about consciousness do you aim to raise?
I suppose the idea that we can never know what another person is thinking is what sparked off Archipelago, but I wanted to offer up something else in the song, namely the idea that our minds and thoughts could be in some way interconnected. Consciousness fascinates me, it's the one thing science knows very little about, yet it's something we know for a fact to be real. If I'm not writing music I'm out walking and listening to podcasts about the nature of consciousness.
‘Soup’ draws inspiration from Redmond O'Hanlon's journey between the Orinoco and the Amazon. How did O'Hanlon's work influence the creation of this song, and what is the role of the bass guitar in conveying the jungle atmosphere?
O'Hanlon describes the jungle so wonderfully, bringing it to life with vivid imagery and his deep love and knowledge of all things natural. I was reading 'In Trouble Again' and felt the need to use the book as source material for a song, out of which came 'Soup', lifting his words here and there. The bass guitar doesn't represent anything in particular about the jungle, but it does sound quite soupy to me.
The jungle is mentioned as a source of inspiration for your music. Can you tell us more about how the wilderness of the jungle influences your creative process and the atmosphere of your songs?
I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I've never actually been to a jungle, though it's been a dream of mine since I was a child. Borneo in particular is always on my mind. Even though I've never experienced the jungle, I've always got a book about the jungle on the go, and having a deep passion for nature it feels as if in some way the jungle and the natural world have worked their way into the music.
As a musician who has played in various bands and still maintains your role in Temples, how do you balance your creative energy between these different projects, and what unique perspectives do you bring to your solo work?
I'm very fortunate that Temples pays the bills, so when I'm not engaged with touring or writing for Temples, I write on my own. I'm also fortunate that I rarely suffer from creative block, which could be something to do with using different approaches, so the balance is pretty easy to manage.
Can you provide a glimpse into what your fans can anticipate from your upcoming work?
I'm sort of picking and choosing from a lot of songs, so if I'm honest I'm not even sure myself what I'll put out next, but I plan to release a lot of material over the next year, potentially an album. My aim is to try and represent some of the weirder, more esoteric material alongside the more poppy stuff. So a lot of variety.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?
Anything by Bob Dylan. 'John Wesley Harding' at the moment. I often get obsessed with albums and listen over and over again until I begin to dislike them, but with Dylan that's never happened. His work has been and I'm pretty certain will continue to be with me for life.
What do you love right now?
Playing chess.
What do you hate right now?
Cruelty to animals.
Looking ahead, what are your goals and aspirations as Foxette Moxy, and what message or feeling do you hope to convey to your listeners through your music?
I plan to continue to release music as often as I can, and I have a few plans in place to play some live shows at some point, an idea which is equally exciting and terrifying. There's no overriding message in particular, but I hope that people feel positive when listening to Foxette Moxy, it's a joy to write, so I hope that the feeling translates in some form to the listener.