Foals announce new album for 2026 – the “Year of the Fire Horse”. After four years, the indie rock band is back with studio insights.
After four years of radio silence, the Foals are back with a clear sign of life. The indie rock band from Oxford have announced a new studio album and symbolically declared 2026 the “Year of the Fire Horse”. Since the release of “Life Is Yours” in 2022, Foals have made themselves scarce when it comes to new music – the attention that their cryptic New Year’s greeting is triggering is now even greater.
Mysterious studio insights on Instagram
“Happy New Year! 2026… The Year of the Fire Horse…” the band wrote on Instagram on January 1, 2026. The post was accompanied by a photo from a recording studio showing a board with handwritten song structures. This is not a classic album announcement – but in Foals logic it is an unmistakable indication that new music is in the starting blocks.
Philippakis in “Rolling Stone”: “Keep your eyes open”
Back in December, frontman Yannis Philippakis told Rolling Stone: “I’m definitely thinking about a Foals album. We were just on vacation together in Iceland and were talking about an album. So keep your eyes peeled next year.” The fact that this “next year” has now apparently become 2026 fits with the band’s self-image of taking their time – and consciously building up expectations.
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The band announces a promising year 2026 on Instagram:
“The best Foals album of all time”
Philippakis had already formulated high demands in an interview with the “NME” in 2024. The next album, according to the singer, “could be the best Foals album of all time.” They consciously decided not to work out of routine: the band “really wanted to take some time at home and apart from each other to individually recover and be inspired – and not record an album out of a hasty obligation”. The next work should be “something very special”.
Walter Gervers returns – the band is complete again
An important factor for this new phase is the return of bassist Walter Gervers, who joined the band again in 2023 after a six-year break. Philippakis commented on the comeback with his usual pathos: “After six years in the Alpine wilderness – guess who’s back? Walter is back and better than ever.” The message was clear: Foals are back together – and ready for a new chapter.
Creative detours: From Afrobeat to theater music
The fact that Philippakis has not stood still creatively in recent years is shown by his diverse work outside of the band. With Yannis & The Yaw, he released the EP “Lagos Paris London” in 2024, a project that took on new seriousness with the death of Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen. Philippakis also composed music for the play “The Confessions” at London’s National Theater – experiences that may have broadened his musical horizons. All of these influences now seem to flow into the upcoming Foals album. If 2026 does indeed become the “Year of the Fire Horse,” then it promises to be a powerful, perhaps even radical, new start.