Foxing‘s self-titled fifth album is out today, and it’s an excellent album that you can read my review of in Notable Releases. Its last song is called “Cry Baby,” and to help celebrate the release, the band’s guitarist/in-house producer Eric Hudson has made us a list of 10 songs he’s cried to.
“I’m not much of a cryer (crier?),” he says. “I don’t cry a lot. It’s not because I feel like it’s weak or any type of toxic feeling like that. When I do, it feels great. But often it just doesn’t come out, even if I wish it would. The feeling of an ugly cry is so cathartic and the way I feel after is a top tier feeling in life. Anyway. Here’s some songs that completely broke through the guarded gates of my cry castle and started the waterworks.”
The list ranges from WHY? to Sufjan Stevens to Carly Rae Jepsen to Perfume Genius to Savage Garden, and you can see what Eric had to say about each pick below…
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Songs I’ve Cried To by Eric Hudson
“My Father’s House” – Bruce Springsteen
Ah man. This song and this album just ignites the midwest corn boy in my blood. I think of the passage of time and the amount I’ve been gone from my family. This song, in all its beauty, preemptively makes me feel regret over that missed time when the day comes that I can no longer see them at all.
“Light Leaves” – WHY?
I’ve always loved Yoni as a lyricist. I’ve seen WHY? live, as a paid patron, more than any other band. It’s a very unique band that I think everyone should give a listen to. Very influential for me and others in Foxing in its emotional weight even though our sounds are pretty different.
“Run Away With Me” – Carly Rae Jepsen
This song was timeless the second that really MIDI sounding pitch bent synth was written. It’s just so fucking good man. All the background vocals, just hooks on hooks. The music video. It was a major anthem for me and my friends at a time in my life when I felt really good about a lot of things. It was Foxing when it felt like dreams were possible, all my favorite people in my small apartment dancing to this drunkenly. I’m in a very different place now, but I’ll never skip this song when it comes on. I get to live in that moment again, and sometimes a single tear will come out. A mix of emotions that is overwhelming.
“New Hell” – Greet Death
I’m honored to say these are my friends. And I love their music. From about 3 minutes to the end, the way that the band crashes and the vocals and lyrics coalesce, I just feel and hear the pain. But what makes it so good is the way that it feels uplifting to be acknowledging it.
“The Only Thing” – Sufjan Stevens
Gosh. I remember hearing Carrie & Lowell for the first time the day it came out. It was in that same apartment I referenced before. I was alone during the day. I still ate meat then. I was high and I had gotten Wing Stop boneless wings. This song came on. My hands were sticky with honey BBQ sauce. Once the bridge hit, the instruments swell in and that verby guitar line starts and he says “The only reason why I continue at all, faith in reason. I wasted my life playing dumb.” I cried. It’s just an unbelievable song. And it took on even greater meaning later on in life when I lost my grandfather and was there with him at the end and was a part of his transition into death. Grief is such a complex emotion, this record somehow captured it.
“Alone” – The Cry
The name of the band and the title are kind of on the nose here I guess hah. But I love this song because the music is so happy feeling. And the lyrics are interesting because depending on your mood, it’s hopeful or it’s really sad. I have had a cry to The Cry.
“Look On Down From The Bridge” – Mazzy Star
Young AJ in The Sopranos. iykyk
“You and I” – Toro y Moi
I think this is one of the greatest breakup songs ever made. I love a good synth pad. The way a relationship is chronicled from beginning to end, the way blame is not laid at anyones feet, it’s just devastating and feels real. The end of a relationship with someone you truly love is life shattering and even more so when you can’t be mad at them for anything, it was a successful relationship. It’s just over now.
“Truly Madly Deeply” – Savage Garden
This one’s a little goofy, but I have to include the first song I can remember crying to. I remember being like 7 and listening to this on my dad’s CD player. I had a crush on my older sister’s friend who lived down the street. And I was just being a real sentimental softie about it. lol
“Alan” – Perfume Genius
It’s just such a beautiful piece of art.
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Catch Foxing on tour soon with From Indian Lakes and hand-pickd local support on each date, including Racket (10/29) in NYC.
Foxing / From Indian Lakes — 2024 Tour Dates
Sep 17 – Nashville, TN @ The Mil
Sep 18 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
Sep 20 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
Sep 21 – Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
Sep 22 – Columbus, OH @ Newport
Sep 24 – Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium
Sep 25 – St. Paul, MN @ Amsterdam
Sep 26 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
Sep 28 – Denver, CO @ Marquis
Sep 30 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
Oct 1 – Boise, ID @ The Olympic
Oct 3 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Oct 5 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile
Oct 7 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Oct 8 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
Oct 10 – San Diego, CA @ Music Box
Oct 11 – Las Vegas, NV @ Best Friends Forever Festival
Oct 12 – Mesa, AZ @ The Nile Theater
Oct 14 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace
Oct 15 – Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
Oct 17 – Austin, TX @ Empire Garage
Oct 18 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
Oct 19 – Houston, TX @ HOB Bronze Peacock
Oct 21 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
Oct 22 – Orlando, FL @ The Abbey
Oct 24 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Oct 25 – Washington D.C. @ Union Stage
Oct 26 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
Oct 27 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair
Oct 29 – New York, NY @ Racket
Oct 30 – Philadelphia, PA @ Brooklyn Bowl
Nov 1 – Chicago, IL @ Outset
Nov 2 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall