Fleet Foxes

I had a bootleg of this album a month before the official release. (Not to worry, I bought the cd here as soon as it came out) It took this long to write a review because it's not an easy album to fully comprehend in the short term. After the nearly perfect and perhaps more accessible debut ep Sun Giant, this full-length cd was far more difficult to warm up to. But just as in life, where nothing worth doing is ever easy, the brilliance of this album becomes more and more obvious over time.

Comparisons to other bands might seem easy, but ultimately are only useful as a guidepost to a type of sound that might interest you as a listener. So sure, if you like any of the 70's (or 00's) bands with a folk/rock/freak sound you may be open to the Foxes. If Led Zep was your main 70's band, you may want to look elsewhere. The Beach Boys may be one band that could be argued to be a significant influence. (As songwriter and front man Robin Pecknold would probably acknowledge.) Yet they sound NOTHING at all like them. Nothing. But the song structures, the harmonies, the lack of glorious guitar solos (which some wrongly refer to as "chops") might owe more to the Beach Boys than CSN&Y, (who many seem to forget were a super group that could rock out with the best of them when they wanted to).

The most striking thing about the Fleet Foxes, what separates them from most other bands out there today, is not what you have heard. It's not the harmonies. It's not the reverb or the beards or Seattle or the massive buzz surrounding them. It's the most basic of all things when it comes to music. The songwriting.

Pecknold, at 21 or 22, has already composed a collection of classics. At least six or seven of the eleven songs on this album are standards to their fans and will be screamed for and sung along with twenty years from now if we are all lucky enough to be around by then. I kid you not... The other songs are nearly as good, making it the most listenable album to come along not just this year, but probably in many, many years.

If you feel like it, you can read my little battle with Hercules_doh in the comments section of his review. Though I feel even more strongly now about the band and the album than at that time, Meadowlarks still stands out as perhaps the only miss between the first two albums. And it's a very near miss at that. It's actually quite beautiful, but the lyrics at one point become a little too affected to be taken seriously. A minor quibble to be sure.

The best thing for fans of indie music is that this band will never be for everyone. As hot as they are right now, there are already haters out there and ears that are just not open to this kind of sound. As beautiful as the songs are, as sweet as the harmonies are and as absent the screeching guitar solos are: do not be fooled. This is serious music that is just different enough to keep it interesting for a lot of fans but will scare away the massive audiences that would probably end up ruining it.

Eccentric and familiar at the same time; the self titled full length from Seattle's Fleet Foxes is nothing short of spellbinding. Borrowing heavily from olden-folk and country-rock, the album packs a futuristic vintage punch, although it's much more like a subtle kiss on the cheek. Peckhold's voice is always in reverberating reverence to the past, and the band's playing constitutes the very same greatness. The music is full of a mystically optimistic spirit; graceful and invigorating, all finespun into a genius work of art unlike anything else. Easily one of the most original and beautiful albums to come along on a long time.

From the sweet tuned Meadowlarks to the soft singing and acoustics of White winter hymnal, Fleet Foxes shows me songs and styles that I haven't enjoyed in a long time. Fleet Foxes is the one of the best albums I have listened to all year. The songs are so relaxing, I just forget about everything and let myself be sucked into the sweet melodies and voices. If you want to take a break from all the other music you have, or just looking for something new to listen to, this is for you.

These guys are the indie darlings of the blogosphere right now, and truth be told, they deserve just about every damn bit of the praise being heaped upon them.

Hailing from the city that birthed Hendrix and Nirvana, it is a stunning accomplishment that Fleet Foxes have crafted a debut that recalls vintage CSNY, sun soaked Beach Boy harmonies, late 60's psychedelic pop, and even Appalachian Folk....and yet they manage to transcend a gratuitious homage to any of them.

If their lyrics, song titles, and 16th century Renaissance cover art are any indication, this is a band that revels in bucolic and pastoral settings, say in a meadow just beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. Off the 11 tracks on this 40 minute LP, 6 of them have them titles that read more like Wordsworth poetry than what you'd expect from a band on the Sub Pop label.

But no matter. Four part harmonies are flawlessly executed, melodies soar amongst the reverb, and the instrumental performance shimmers in the glow of jangly pop tunes. Neil Young, Jim James, and Brian Wilson are all smiling proudly.

Standout tracks like "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song", "Heard Them Stirring", and "Oliver James" are all fine examples of top notch songcraft. If experience holds any weight here, these guys will be playing circles around other bands by their next release. Hopefully, they'll stick to current instrumentation though, and avoid going the way of the shaum and hurdy-gurdy.

I heard them first through a college radio station (and I'm 55 years young). Loved the sound, the harmonies and melodies. I play this while driving in rush hour traffic and I'm relaxed, alert and not inclined to "road rage". The words make me think, but don't cause confusion or irritation.
They remind me of CSNY, and also the Beach Boys and Beatles! I can't wait to hear more from this very talented group.