In a burst of technicolor glory, Foreign/National recently released 'The Garden', their lush eight-track second album.
Fluidly waxing between psychedelic, Afrobeat and avant-garde textures, 'The Garden' is the Melbourne five-piece at their virtuosic best.Conceptualised and demoed primarily during the band's year spent in Berlin, the album showcases a new side to their musicianship. Moving away from the strictly lo-fi psych-pop sound that defined earlier releases, 'The Garden' incorporates a wide range of influences, from the cosmopolitan sounds of AIR and Stereolab to Fela Kuti and Mulatu Astatke.
"'The Garden' is more focused on the negative behaviours and hypocrisy we see in public figures: business leaders, politicians, the clergy and, of course, entitled men," frontman Mark Gage says.
"[But] our judgements are not only reserved for the behaviours of these figures but also for our own, sometimes mirrored, behaviours that we can't help but acknowledge."
Here, the band push music to one side to discuss their other passion – AFL screamers; when men soar above the pack or leap beyond reality to make footy fans everywhere scream in delight. What a wonderful subject matter; thank you Foreign/National.
5: Liam Ryan (Round 9, 2019)
What's most impressive about this monumental grab is the effort that precedes it.Ryan marks the ball on the wing and spears it to teammate Josh Kennedy. He then sprints one hundred metres to the top of the goal square, plants a knee squarely on 208cm ruckman Max Gawn's head and, unbelievably, takes the ball on his chest. This is David vs. Goliath stuff.
Seeing all the West Coast players getting stuck into a prone, crest-fallen Gawn brings a bloody tear to my eye.
4: Nick Riewoldt (Round 11, 2004)
Rightly referred to as the most courageous mark of all time.Riewoldt runs backwards with the flight of the ball and, with complete disregard for his own safety, launches into the air like an angel returning to heaven. He grabs the Sherrin and corkscrews back down to earth, nearly decapitating teammate Stephen 'Tip Rat' Milne on the way.
A true miracle worthy of sainthood.
3: Tony Modra (Round 8, 1993)
In case any young footy fans don't recognise the name, 'Godra' was Adelaide's superstar bagman for most of the '90s.His poster-boy good looks and incredible athleticism put South Australian footy on the map, and no highlight is more illustrative of Modra's skill-set than this absolute demolishing of North Melbourne's Ian Fairley. For a second there, it looks like Tony is never coming back down.
2: Jeremy Howe (Round 8, 2012)
You may as well draw a raffle to decide which is the definitive Jeremy Howe screamer.If we're basing our decision purely on 'hang-time' factor, though, then this one clearly takes the cake. Howe spends so long glued to Heath Grundy's shoulders that he basically becomes a symbiotic parasite. Legend has it he's still up there, wobbling through life on the back of Grundy's neck.
1: Gary Moorcroft (Round 14, 2001)
Look, I don't know much about Gary Moorcroft, but here's what I do know: he played 98 AFL games, his career was marred by several crap haircuts, and he took one of the best hangers we've ever seen.'Hanger' is probably the wrong word here, because once he gets the sit on his opponent's shoulders he rises again, arcing through the air like a bolt of lightning. Wow-ee.
