Fleet Foxes (Self Titled)

Thanks to some constant encouragement from a few people that I know, I finally picked up the first Fleet Foxes Album. I had been very hesitant to do so as the quick preview I did on Amazon was so mellow and harmonious I was worried I would fall asleep listening to it. I could not have been more pleasantly surprised.

Its true that the Fleet Foxes describe themselves as "Baroque-Pop" music. This phrase to me screams stuffy chamber music and madrigals, but in truth it means carefully laid out harmonies and riff driven guitar parts laid over peaceful soundscapes. There's also a heavy modern influence in the sound that could be compared to bands like Band of Horses, Bon Iver, Rogue Wave, and Grizzly Bear.

For a first sampling/ introduction track I really dig the song "White Winter Hymnal."



It's simple, short, but it does a great job capturing the essence of the band. It starts out with a pseudo-round vocals then slowly layers entrances of voices and instrumentation that build a pyramid into the full song. Listening closely you hear several guitar parts (rythm AG, rythm EG and lead EG) all layered neatly so as to not distract from the melody of the song. The drums themselves are minimal with only the occasional tom hit and tambourine, but they do an excellent job accenting what is happening in the song. By the time the song ends the pyramid built up has collapsed and you have returned from your journey back to where you started all in the course of 2.5 minutes. Pretty impressive.

One of the distinct things about the Fleet Foxes sound is that everything is drenched in reverb, which lends to an ambient enveloping feeling in their songs that slowly absorbs you into their world. By the time the album ends you feel completely entrenched in the sonic journey that has taken you to another time, place and space.

So why was I so surprised? The album actually has a pretty good balance and energy to it that takes some thought to pull off. Of course, the horror of Muzak was first imposed upon us in the 1950s and has been ever since, so this is a very well understood field that should be hard to screw up, but I digress. My point being I have a hard time understanding why so many artists these days have trouble sequencing their albums. Fleet Foxes got it just right. I could just call out tracks I like, but for these guys, I like to experience the album as a whole. To cut it up would be taking away from what these guys are doing.