Crest Of The Wave

Album: Life Is Yours (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Crest Of The Wave" goes back to a recording session Foals did in 2011 in Australia with Jono Ma from Jagwar Ma. "It was this syrupy, sweaty jam known as 'Isaac,'" singer-guitarist Yannis Philippakis told Apple Music. The band parked it because Philippakis couldn't come up with the right vocals, but they kept it at the back of their minds.

    Fast forward 10 years when Foals were recording tracks for Life Is Yours. They changed the bassline, and as they played around with some of the themes on the record, Philippakis came up with lyrics that transport the listener to sunnier climes.
  • The song finds Philippakis on a Caribbean island with the girl he loves. She blows hot and cold, showing signs of interest before pulling away. "It's got longing and a bittersweet feeling of rejection in it; it's somewhere idyllic, but you're melancholic," said the singer. "There's high humidity and there's tears."
  • Philippakis set the song in Saint Lucia. "It has always struck me as being very powerful visually, with the mountain plummeting into the sea," he explained on Instagram.
  • I promised I'd meet ya
    But my words wait on water
    So I'll always be there waiting at the crest of the wave


    The crest of the wave is the highest part that contains the foam. Used metaphorically, it means at a point where someone's success or popularity has peaked. The potential for romance on this song's paradisal island can't be topped, but Philippakis' woman won't commit.
  • Life Is Yours is notable as Foals' first time collaborating with multiple producers for a release. John Hill (Cage the Elephant, Shakira) and Dan Carey (Bloc Party, Fontaines DC) produced this track.

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