Fleet Foxes

Posted by Afton in Music.

Artist: Fleet Foxes
Album: Fleet Foxes
Label: Sub Pop
Release date: June 3, 2008
Genre: Folk rock

Any music critic will tell you it takes something, usually unquantifiable, for a band to stand out among the deluge of new releases that come out every week. An odd album name, too-clever lyrics, nudity in the cover art — sometimes just being associated with another act is enough (what else sets Chris Walla apart but his resume?) But when the sheer power of an album bowls you over, when it makes you stop what you’re doing, minimize your chat windows, close your eyes and just listen, that’s something rare. And the Fleet Foxes wield that power.

The first song, “Sun It Rises,” opens with some twangy a capella about a “red squirrel in the morning, red squirrel in the evening” and you think maybe you’ve slipped in the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack by mistake. A minute and a half in, though, and the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young harmonies hook you. Then comes “White Winter Hymnal,” which, being the masterpiece that it is, 1) is too short at 2:27 and 2) you should try to enjoy before it gets picked up and run into the ground by a coffee commercial.

The Fleet Foxes are a quintet from Seattle but could feasibly be from a backwoods town at the foot of any mountain east of the Mississippi. The ethereal nature themes are as evocative and colorful as anything by Wallace Stevens, and the texture of Robin Pecknold’s voice brings the woodland creatures, trees, sunshine and snow to life in such a way that you want to know everything about that squirrel, and you inexplicably invest yourself in its hopes and dreams.

Not rockin’ enough to be “rock” but too intense to be “folk,” the Fleet Foxes let their voices do most of the work, with some layered guitar and tambourine for help. But even for its simplicity, it’s an astonishingly complex work for a debut. Let’s just hope the same craftsmanship can be applied to subsequent albums.

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