Fleet Foxes | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Emerging in 2008 to widespread critical acclaim, Seattles Fleet Foxes fused earthy, harmony-rich indie folk with a sense of lush pop sophistication that called to mind the late-60s work of acts like the Beach Boys, the Zombies, and Fairport Convention. Both their self-titled debut and 2011 follow-up, Helplessness Blues, were produced by Phil Ek and released by Sub Pop, with the latter two albums earning them a Grammy nomination. Following a six-year gap and a switch to Nonesuch, Fleet Foxes returned with their expansive third full-length, Crack-Up, in 2017. Formed in 2006 by longtime friends Robin Pecknold (lead vocals/guitar) and Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, vocals), the bands primary line-up grew to include Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, vocals), Christian Wargo (bass, guitar, vocals), and Nicholas Peterson (drums, vocals). Mixing Baroque pop with elements of classic rock and British folk, the band quickly generated a healthy amount of label interest and caught the attention of local producer Phil Ek, who had previously helmed records by Built to Spill and the Shins. Signing with Sub Pop in early 2008, Fleet Foxes issued the Ek-produced Sun Giant EP followed a few months later by their self-titled debut album. A critical success at home in the U.S., Fleet Foxes fared even better in Europe and the U.K., where the album went platinum and landed atop numerous year-end best-of lists. Shortly after the albums release, Peterson was replaced on drums by singer/songwriter Josh Tillman who would remain with the band for the next four years until reinventing himself as Father John Misty in 2012. With Ek returning as producer, the band began recording sessions for their follow-up LP, seeking a more cohesive, live feel. The resulting album, 2011s Helplessness Blues, expanded on Fleet Foxes lush sound and was again widely praised by critics, going gold in the U.K. and earning them a Grammy nomination back in the U.S. Following several major tours and the departure of Tillman on drums, the band entered a hiatus made effective by Pecknolds 2014 relocation to New York City, where he enrolled to pursue a degree at Columbia University. Things remained quiet until mid-2016, when it was revealed that the band had returned to the recording studio. In early 2017, it was announced Fleet Foxes had signed with Nonesuch to release their third album, Crack-Up, named after an essay by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ambitious in scope and bearing a more progressive sound than their earlier work, Crack-Up was released in June 2017. The following year the group celebrated the tenth anniversary of their debut album with the release of First Collection 2006-2009, which brought together their debut album, early EPs, B-sides, and rarities for the first time. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 5 Title: Sun Giant Released: 2008-03-09 Tracks: 5 Duration: 18:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sun Giant (02:14) 2 Drops in the River (04:13) 3 English House (04:41) 4 Mykonos (04:35) 5 Innocent Son (03:07) |
 | Album: 2 of 5 Title: Fleet Foxes Released: 2008-06-03 Tracks: 11 Duration: 39:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sun It Rises (03:11) 2 White Winter Hymnal (02:27) 3 Ragged Wood (05:07) 4 Tiger Mountain Peasant Song (03:28) 5 Quiet Houses (03:32) 6 He Doesn’t Know Why (03:20) 7 Heard Them Stirring (03:02) 8 Your Protector (04:09) 9 Meadowlarks (03:11) 10 Blue Ridge Mountains (04:25) 11 Oliver James (03:23) |
| Fleet Foxes : Allmusic album Review : Borrowing from ageless folk and classic rock (and nicking some of the best bits from prog and soft rock along the way), on their self-titled debut album Fleet Foxes dont just master the art of taking familiar influences and making them sound fresh again, they give a striking sense of who they are and what their world is like. Their song titles reference the Blue Ridge Mountains -- never mind that theyre actually from Seattle -- but its the ease and skill with which they mix and match British and American folk and rock from the far and not too distant past that makes the bands music so refreshing. While this mix could be contrived or indulgent, Fleet Foxes use restraint, structuring their flourishes into three- and four-minute pop songs full of chiming melodies and harmonies that sound like theyve been summoned from centuries of traditional songs and are full of vivid, universal imagery: mountains, birds, family, death. Despite drawing from so many sources, theres a striking purity to Fleet Foxes sound. Robin Pecknolds voice is warm and sweet, with just enough grit to make phrases like "premonition of my death" sound genuine, and the bands harmonies sound natural, and stunning, whether theyre on their own or supported by acoustic guitars or the full, plugged-in band. "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" and "Meadowlarks" show just how much the Foxes do with the simplest elements of their music, but Fleet Foxes best songs marry that purity with twists that open their sound much wider. As good as the Sun Giant EP was, Fleet Foxes saved many of their best songs for this album. "White Winter Hymnal" is remarkably beautiful, building from a vocal round into glorious jangle pop with big, booming drums that lend a sense of adventure as the spine-tingling melody lightens some of the lyrics darkness ("Michael you would fall and turn the white snow red as strawberries in summertime"). The suite-like "Ragged Wood" moves from a galloping beat to sparkling acoustic picking, then takes a trippy detour before returning to a more thoughtful version of its main theme. "Quiet Houses" and "He Doesnt Know Why"s driving pianos show off the bands flair for drama. Dazzling songs like these are surrounded by a few songs that find the band leaning a little more heavily on its influences. "Your Protector" nods to Zeppelins misty, mournful side, and "Blue Ridge Mountains" is the kind of earthy yet sophisticated song CSNY would have been proud to call their own. But, even when the songs arent as brilliant as Fleet Foxes highlights, the band still sounds alluring, as on the lush interlude "Heard Them Stirring." Throughout the album, the band sounds wise beyond its years, so its not really that surprising that Fleet Foxes is such a satisfying, self-assured debut. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 5 Title: Helplessness Blues Released: 2011-04-29 Tracks: 12 Duration: 49:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Montezuma (03:37) 2 Bedouin Dress (04:29) 3 Sim Sala Bim (03:14) 4 Battery Kinzie (02:49) 5 The Plains / Bitter Dancer (05:53) 6 Helplessness Blues (05:03) 7 The Cascades (02:07) 8 Lorelai (04:24) 9 Someone You’d Admire (02:29) 10 The Shrine / An Argument (08:07) 11 Blue Spotted Tail (03:05) 12 Grown Ocean (04:36) |
| Helplessness Blues : Allmusic album Review : Props to Helplessness Blues for making the fretless zither cool again. On their second album, Fleet Foxes continue to take their music in unusual directions, creating a baroque folk-pop sound that hints at a number of influences -- Simon & Garfunkel, Fairport Convention, the Beach Boys -- but is too unique, too esoteric, too damn weird to warrant any direct links between the Seattle boys and their predecessors. Its still a downright gorgeous record, though, filled to the brim with glee club harmonies and the sort of stringed instruments that are virtually unknown to anyone who didnt go to music school (and even if you did, whens the last time you rocked out on the Marxophone?). Relying on obscure instrumentation can be a dangerous game, and Fleet Foxes occasionally run the risk of sounding too clever for their own good, as if the need to "out-folk" groups like Mumford & Sons and Midlake is more important than writing memorable, articulate folk tunes. But Helplessness Blues has the necessary songs to back it up, from the slow crescendos of the album-opening "Montezuma" to the sweeping orchestral arrangement of the encore number, "Grown Ocean." Robin Pecknold remains the ringleader of this Celtic circus. His is the only voice to cut through the thick, lush harmonies that Fleet Foxes splash across every refrain like paint, and his lyrics -- rife with allusions to the Bible, Dante the Magician, and the poetry of W.B. Yeats -- reach beyond the territory he occupied on the band’s first record, which painted simple geographical portraits with songs like "Sun It Rises," "Ragged Wood," "Quiet Houses," and "Blue Ridge Mountains." On Helplessness Blues, hes just as interested in the landscape of the human heart. Still, its the music that stands out, and the bands acoustic folk/chamber pop combo makes every song sound like a grand tribute to back-to-the-land living. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 5 Title: Crack‐Up Released: 2017-06-16 Tracks: 11 Duration: 55:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint Scar (06:25) 2 Cassius, - (04:50) 3 - Naiads, Cassadies (03:11) 4 Kept Woman (03:55) 5 Third of May / Ōdaigahara (08:45) 1 If You Need To, Keep Time on Me (03:31) 2 Mearcstapa (04:10) 3 On Another Ocean (January / June) (04:23) 4 Fool’s Errand (04:48) 5 I Should See Memphis (04:44) 6 Crack‐Up (06:24) |
| Crack‐Up : Allmusic album Review : Following a lengthy hiatus and some apparent soul-searching from bandleader Robin Pecknold, Fleet Foxes aim for dramatic reinvention on their cerebral third LP, Crack-Up. When they debuted in 2008, they were widely designated as torchbearers of the burgeoning indie folk movement, but there was always an academic element to the Seattle bands work that vaulted them into a class of their own. Their exultant vocal harmonies rose like a misty hybrid of the Beach Boys and Steeleye Span and their complex chamber pop arrangements recalled the autumnal splendor of the Zombies paired with the melodic complexity of early Yes. On the bands long-awaited third effort, its the latter of those two references that jumps to the fore as they deliver what is easily their most progressive album to date. Named for an essay by F. Scott Fitzgerald and bearing references to Spanish painter Francisco Goya, the American Civil War, sociopolitical anxiety, and inner-band strife, Crack-Up is dense and difficult, but ultimately rewarding. At the albums vanguard is "I Am All That I Need/Arroyo Seco/Thumbprint Scar," an ambitious three-part suite in which the familiar strains of Fleet Foxes trademark wall of harmonies become suddenly hijacked by crudely mumbled interludes and various forms of rhythmic and tonal dissonance. Its a method employed throughout Crack-Ups 11 tracks, which seem to zig and zag through zones of chaos, fellowship, and transcendence as Pecknold the scholar unveils his strange architecture in layers of detail and nuance. That the nearly nine-minute centerpiece, "Third of May/Ōdaigahara," was chosen as the albums lead single says something about the availability of easily digestible material on Crack-Up, and yet its aspirations are the glue that holds it all together. Orchestral, experimental, and more challenging than either of the bands previous releases, its a natural fit for the Nonesuch label, whose heritage was built on such attributes. For Fleet Foxes, it represents a shift away from their more idyllic early days into a period of artistic growth and sophistication. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 5 Title: First Collection: 2006–2009 Released: 2018-11-09 Tracks: 30 Duration: 1:43:37 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sun It Rises (03:11) 2 White Winter Hymnal (02:27) 3 Ragged Wood (05:07) 4 Tiger Mountain Peasant Song (03:28) 5 Quiet Houses (03:32) 6 He Doesn’t Know Why (03:20) 7 Heard Them Stirring (03:02) 8 Your Protector (04:09) 9 Meadowlarks (03:11) 10 Blue Ridge Mountains (04:25) 11 Oliver James (03:23) 1 Sun Giant (02:14) 2 Drops in the River (04:13) 3 English House (04:41) 4 Mykonos (04:35) 5 Innocent Son (03:07) 1 She Got Dressed (03:29) 2 In the Hot, Hot Rays (03:06) 3 Anyone Who’s Anyone (03:48) 4 Textbook Love (03:26) 5 So Long to the Headstrong (04:18) 6 Icicle Tusk (04:37) 1 False Knight on the Road (03:45) 2 Silver Dagger (03:19) 3 White Lace Regretfully (02:32) 4 Isles (03:07) 5 Ragged Wood (transition basement sketch) (01:48) 6 He Doesn’t Know Why (basement demo) (03:15) 7 English House (basement demo) (04:00) 8 Hot Air (basement sketch) (00:49) |