Play - EP

Editors’ Notes Dave Grohl has never lacked for big, high-concept ideas. On “Play,” the Foo Fighters frontman pays tribute to the romantic, often obsessive relationship musicians have with their instruments by uncorking a wordless, 23-minute rock epic on which he plays everything himself: drums, bass, guitar. All captured in single, uninterrupted takes—and filmed for a short documentary of the same name—it moves fluidly from heavy-headed grooves to jazzy interludes to the sort of searing crescendos that have made up the spine of many a Foo Fighters single. As has always been the case, Grohl is at his most electrifying when behind a drum kit, and “Play” overflows with both subtle moments and seismic, definitive fills. “It was really just to see if I could pull it off,” he told Jimmy Kimmel. “To see if I could do those full takes without making any mistakes and actually memorize that much music.”