The Foo Fighters’ latest, “Medicine at Midnight,” is not a product of the pandemic. Although the band was holed up in a house recording it — a rented property in the hills above the San Fernando Valley — COVID didn’t play a role since the album was completed ahead of the March 2020 lockdown. And while fans had to wait extra-long for its delayed release (the last Foo Fighters album, “Concrete and Gold,” came out in 2017), they got in return the shortest full-length in the band’s catalog, clocking in at 36 minutes.
One would think that having the benefit of time might prompt another go at music making — in order to address the challenging, restrictive and, for many, lonely times. But as producer Greg Kurstin tells it, the Foos didn’t change a thing. What they had in “Medicine” was a ready-to-tour onslaught of arena-friendly rock, accentuated by the addition of three female backing singers (including frontman Dave Grohl’s daughter, Violet, who contributes vocals), percussion by David Bowie collaborator Omar Hakim and the occasional string ensemble. It’s not exactly new terrain for the Foos, but the album doesn’t suffer from being overly familiar, either.