It's now twenty years since grunge emerged from then culturally isolated Seattle and Fleet Foxes, the eponymous debut album from the city's latest heroes, demonstrates just how much American independent rock has mutated in that time. The five young members of Fleet Foxes make up a very different sort of rock band, describing their own music as "baroque harmonic pop jams". Even that understates the depths of the quintet's effortless vocal harmonies and gently woozy, folky feel. Of their contemporaries only the enigmatic Midlake and My Morning Jacket at their most fragile come close, but neither could have cooked up the Beach Boys spiritual of "White Winter Hymnal" or its more powerful companion piece "Ragged Wood". In fact Fleet Foxes happily admit to aspiring to an earlier tradition--not just obvious antecedents like the Byrds, the Association, Neil Young and, especially, David Crosby's famously unfocussed solo album If Only I Could Remember My Name but ancient English folk songs and their later American descendents. All were hunted and gathered from the internet--songwriters Robin Pecknold and Skye Skjelset are barely in their twenties. Add a host of unlikely instruments and the results are stunning, the complete antithesis of mainstream stadium indie that has followed Arcade Fire. Still, the cover features a Bruegel painting of peasants that might have graced any Black Sabbath sleeve. In that way at least Fleet Foxes salute a local tradition. -—Steve Jelbert
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Beautiful Wonderful and haunting. It sounds both contemporary, seventies and has more than a hint of old 19th century American folk music about it.
Not quite Fleet enough Perfectly nice, perfectly pretty and certainly musically accomplished, the Fleet Foxes sound like...well, it's already been said, but certainly my first impression was the Beach Boys singing the back catalogue of Crosby Stills & Nash, with an annoying overlay of reverb. Unfortunately, they also lack any originality, soul or passion, and after a while (and I've listened to this album many, many times) the bucolic whittering and twee lyrics become somewhat dull, and sometimes even cringeworthy. For this... more info
blandy blandy laaaaaa.... How you can you praise something as being 'new' when ultimately it is so derivative and based purely on music of the past? Good on them for trying but it doesn't work for me. Having read the reviews here as a big fan of 60's west coast and psych, I was hoping that I'd hear something that updated and reinvented the genre. I was really disappointed to say that least. Fleet Foxes have made an album without hooks, any catchiness or 'listen again' factor as far as I'm concerned. It's sweet and cute and... more info
RATHER GOOD HELLO? HI, THIS IS A GOOD ALBUM, THE SONGS ARE GOOD, IT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD, IT MAKES YOU THINK.
