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Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes started off in Seattle in 2006. The band self-released 50 copies of their debut E.P., simply titled The Fleet Foxes & indie-success soon came calling. The band signed with legendary label Sub Pop and released their second E.P., 2008's Sun Giant. 2008 also saw the release of their debut album, Fleet Foxes. Pitchfork would go on to name both the E.P. and album the best release of 2008 & it's hard to argue why. Fleet Foxes' sound pairs layers of harmonized vocals — the sort of sound that could have emerged from the 1920s or the 1970s — with shuffling drums and finger-picked guitars. The band's sound evokes the duality that is Mother Earth; both her beauty while also incorporating the wickedness of the wilderness. The lyrics suggest a bucolic vision of nature, though lead singer Robin Pecknold's lyrics occasionally hint at violence ("And Michael you would fall / and turn the white snow red / as strawberries in summertime," from "White Winter Hymnal"). It's clear that in Fleet Foxes' world, beauty and darkness not only coexist, but ultimately share the same form. It would be three years before the band gave us their follow-up to their debut and avoid the sophomore-slump curse, with 2011's Helplessness Blues, the first album where the band was on my radar. This was also the album that truly converted me into a fan. I know I've mentioned putting on an album and the first track hits you like a million bricks- you just fall in love with the sound right away. That was the case with "Montezuma." And don't even get me stared on the title track, that song speaks to me like few other songs do. No one does intricate folk songs with otherworldly (dare-I-say-God-like) harmonies like Fleet Foxes. This band does so much more than folk though in large part due to their influences; the band draws from the baroque, psychedelic pop of the '60s, sacred harp singing, gospel, and folk music of yesteryear. It would be six (!) more years until Fleet Foxes released a new album: Their lush third album, Crack-Up, was released in 2017, and named after an F. Scott Fitzgerald essay collection. In 2018 they released a box set collecting their earliest releases, titled First Collection 2006-2009. Here's a great Rolling Stone article which captures that time period, with the band on the rise. There have been a few line-up changes within the band, but Robin Pecknold is still leading the group and hasn't messed with the formula which helps explain the band's long-running beatific spirit. So let's re-cap: Fleet Foxes create harmony-drenched folk songs far more abundant than the genre’s traditional, stark stylings. Even while their music packs a lot into each track, it never feels overstuffed. Fleet Foxes’ maximalist folk, with harmonies stacked high as mountains and reverb that could fill caverns, makes feeling small seem epic. The lyrics paint an indelible portrait of fading young-adulthood—diverging from the path set by parents, searching for place and purpose, falling out of relationships that have dried up. “It’s basically pop music,” frontman Robin Pecknold told an interviewer in 2008, describing his band’s sound. “It’s not rock, not a lot of jamming out. It’s focused. The songs are written from personal experience. There are no love songs.” Fleet Foxes may not have a deep discography but the music is rich and rewards the re-listens. If this was the story about the race between the turtle and the fox, funny enough, Fleet Foxes would be the turtle... they may move at a slower pace- but they end up winning every-time. Choose any song off any album or check them out live- and you will see what I mean. Maybe you'll even find them on one of your local jukeboxes...
It's...
The Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes started off in Seattle in 2006. The band self-released 50 copies of their debut E.P., simply titled The Fleet Foxes & indie-success soon came calling. The band signed with legendary label Sub Pop and released their second E.P., 2008's Sun Giant. 2008 also saw the release of their debut album, Fleet Foxes. Pitchfork would go on to name both the E.P. and album the best release of 2008 & it's hard to argue why. Fleet Foxes' sound pairs layers of harmonized vocals — the sort of sound that could have emerged from the 1920s or the 1970s — with shuffling drums and finger-picked guitars. The band's sound evokes the duality that is Mother Earth; both her beauty while also incorporating the wickedness of the wilderness. The lyrics suggest a bucolic vision of nature, though lead singer Robin Pecknold's lyrics occasionally hint at violence ("And Michael you would fall / and turn the white snow red / as strawberries in summertime," from "White Winter Hymnal"). It's clear that in Fleet Foxes' world, beauty and darkness not only coexist, but ultimately share the same form. It would be three years before the band gave us their follow-up to their debut and avoid the sophomore-slump curse, with 2011's Helplessness Blues, the first album where the band was on my radar. This was also the album that truly converted me into a fan. I know I've mentioned putting on an album and the first track hits you like a million bricks- you just fall in love with the sound right away. That was the case with "Montezuma." And don't even get me stared on the title track, that song speaks to me like few other songs do. No one does intricate folk songs with otherworldly (dare-I-say-God-like) harmonies like Fleet Foxes. This band does so much more than folk though in large part due to their influences; the band draws from the baroque, psychedelic pop of the '60s, sacred harp singing, gospel, and folk music of yesteryear. It would be six (!) more years until Fleet Foxes released a new album: Their lush third album, Crack-Up, was released in 2017, and named after an F. Scott Fitzgerald essay collection. In 2018 they released a box set collecting their earliest releases, titled First Collection 2006-2009. Here's a great Rolling Stone article which captures that time period, with the band on the rise. There have been a few line-up changes within the band, but Robin Pecknold is still leading the group and hasn't messed with the formula which helps explain the band's long-running beatific spirit. So let's re-cap: Fleet Foxes create harmony-drenched folk songs far more abundant than the genre’s traditional, stark stylings. Even while their music packs a lot into each track, it never feels overstuffed. Fleet Foxes’ maximalist folk, with harmonies stacked high as mountains and reverb that could fill caverns, makes feeling small seem epic. The lyrics paint an indelible portrait of fading young-adulthood—diverging from the path set by parents, searching for place and purpose, falling out of relationships that have dried up. “It’s basically pop music,” frontman Robin Pecknold told an interviewer in 2008, describing his band’s sound. “It’s not rock, not a lot of jamming out. It’s focused. The songs are written from personal experience. There are no love songs.” Fleet Foxes may not have a deep discography but the music is rich and rewards the re-listens. If this was the story about the race between the turtle and the fox, funny enough, Fleet Foxes would be the turtle... they may move at a slower pace- but they end up winning every-time. Choose any song off any album or check them out live- and you will see what I mean. Maybe you'll even find them on one of your local jukeboxes...
It's...
The Fleet Foxes
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