Fleet Foxes: Harmonic Music to Celebrate Man's Folly

New To Me

Many good bands take years to be discovered, wallowing in the doldrums of tiny venues and carrying their own equipment.  It always seems to take time, many iterations of the line-up, and a lot of luck for the stars to align.  When good fortune finally rains upon a group of artists, I always find it to be gratifying.  

Then there are other bands that seem to hit it right from the release of their first album.  This trend is becoming more prevalent with the continual proliferation and popularity of internet music blogs, chats, and forums.  If the right people hear a sample of music online, suddenly they have a record contract and an appearance on Letterman in no time.  Fleet Foxes is one of these bands, although the unusual and refreshing twist to their story is they are actually incredibly good, not just hype.  

I first heard the music of Fleet Foxes earlier this year, after following up on strong buzz and personal recommendations from our MusicFile crew attending SXSW.  I started with the Sun Giant EP, then anxiously awaited their first LP, the self-titled Fleet Foxes, released in early June.  From the first listen of both of these releases, I was drawn in by insanely harmonic vocals and catchy, 1-2-3 rhythms.  

However, I have to confess another  and equally important  reason for discovering Fleet Foxes.  Right about the time their full-length was released, My Morning Jacket put out their latest album, Evil Urges.  It occurred to me as I was digesting  and getting used to  MMJs latest creative departure from previous work, that the Fleet Foxes album was exactly what Jim James and the rest of the Jackets sounded like when they first began.  Fleet Foxes vocalist Robin Pecknold hits the higher tones with the help of some reverb and both bands lyrics have a bucolic, back-to-the-land feel.  

So although a large part of my initial discovery of Fleet Foxes is due to a wistful longing for the sound that another band has discarded, the benefit was that I realized I had discovered a gem of an band in its own right, and quite possibly Fleet Foxes is one of the best albums of 2008.

Vitals:

Band Members:

Some of the members continue to change, but the backbone of the band is formed by vocalist/guitarist Robin Pecknold and lead guitarist Skyler (Skye) Skjelset.  Other current members include talented musicians that have come from other up-and-coming bands.  Drummer Nick Peterson is from Pedro the Lion; keyboardist Casey Wescott and bassist Christian Wargo hail from a Seattle band called Crystal Skulls.

Conceived:

The band was formed in 2006 by Skjelset and Pecknold, who have been friends for years.  They have recorded and scrapped many a song before arriving with the Fleet Foxes sound of today.  Both the Sun Giant EP and the Fleet Foxes LP came out earlier in 2008.

Roots:

Despite seeming to hail from a Southern countryside or even a chill beach in Southern California, Fleet Foxes are Seattle, Washington guys through and through.  Their sound may be a far cry from the hard-ripping, alternative rock Seattle music from the 1990s, but they seem to be defining a continual trend for more independent folk music in the States.

Sound & Sounds Like:

The sounds like tie for those who crave a frame of reference is very simple, and seems to be universally agreed upon.  They have admitted that The Beach Boys are a decided influence.  With the vocal harmonies and the staccato beats coupled with sing-songy melodies, this is a band that Brian Wilson could have produced with his eyes closed.  Wilson had nothing to do with the album  other than being an admitted influence of Pecknold  but Phil Ek did man the board in the studio.  Ek made a name for himself with production of bands like Modest Mouse, Built to Spill and The Shins.  The latter band does share some similar sonic qualities as Fleet Foxes, but there are other tie-ins that are even closer.

In giving this further thought, the similarities are so striking to the Beach Boys, that nothing else needs to be debated or discussed.  However, other bands I would draw into a similar sound are label mates Band of Horses and Iron and Wine as well as the aforementioned My Morning Jacket.  

The sound of Fleet Foxes is elegiac, masterfully simple, and very relaxings.  The bands vocal harmonization is their real strength, as is their ability to take risks on many instruments.  Songs can be as spare as the last track of the album, Oliver James, which is just Pecknold, an acoustic guitar, and gentle tapping on the hollow; conversely, there are songs like Ragged Wood and Blue Ridge Mountains, where a full band  and more intricate arrangements  are employed.  

To me, it still goes back to the confidence that Pecknold has in his vocal range.  Drawing comparisons to old My Morning Jacket albums isnt entirely fair;  Jim James of MMJ drenched his vocals in reverb to disguise the insecurity he has in his voice.  Conversely, Robin Pecknold belts it out each and every track.  Reverb is used, but he does a better job at leading harmonies sung by the rest of the band.  Lyrics are compelling, honest, and relatable.  If you dont feel that Fleet Foxes are accessible after listening to this album, you are simply tone deaf.

Bar Talk:

Front man Robin Pecknold is only 22 years old, but he seems wise beyond his years.  One example is how grounded he and the rest of the band are.  Despite looking like a hippie, Pecknold has disdain for them.  At the Bumbershoot Music Festival, Pecknold apparently wore a ridiculous-looking hippie hat on stage for their set.  He posted the following on a blog in reaction to the hat and the hippie moniker: Isn't it rad that "hippies" nowadays define themselves by how many weird items they own/can wear at one time and not by any actual ideology? That it's just a veiled version of rampant consumerism with no meaning? The hat, however, is inexcusable and will be burned.

Pecknold and some other band members formed an outdoors group last year called Golden Dawn.  The group promotes camping and hiking, and essentially getting out and away from the day-to-day.  

The painting on the front of the Fleet Foxes LP is called The Blue Cloak by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, circa 1559.  The painting is also called Netherlandish Proverbs and The Topsy Turvy World; it has been studied and interpreted in two ways: as a study and homage to many different traditional proverbs and as a point to the foils of human stupidity.  If you look carefully at the album cover, there are over 100 identifiable traditional proverbs represented in the painting.  Some include armed to the teeth, swimming against the tide, big fish eats little fish, and banging ones head against a brick wall.  I enjoy the fact that Fleet Foxes chose a painting celebrating the ignorance of man as the cover of their albuma strong, yet subtle message.

Essential:

There are only two options to choose from at this time in the Fleet Foxes canon, but I would start with the Sun Giant EP.  I found it to be a digestible warm-up to the full length.  The first two songs  Sun Giant and Drops In the River  are worth the whole EP.  When done with Sun Giant, get the self-titled LP and enjoy it for everything it celebrates: the land, life, friends, the environment, positive vibes and the many pitfalls that can trip us up along the way.  Fleet Foxes have delivered an anthem of this year for all of us.

LINKS: Sub Pop's Official Site - Fleet Foxes Band Page | "The Blue Cloak" or "Netherlandish Proverbs"