Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
by Aidan Roberts
“I was following the I – was following the I…” So goes the opening strains of the song that catapulted Fleet Foxes into public consciousness – White Winter Hymnal – with its ethereal vocal canon and bittersweet guitar refrain. Seattle-based Robin Peckinold and his band of folk-rock pastoralists have delivered a ground-breaking follow-up to their darkly gorgeous Sun Giant EP. Peckinold’s fantastic songs update the style of traditional folk reels and ballads, infusing the genre with a glacial epicness, recalling the brilliance of forebears The Fairport Convention and fellow American torch-bearers, Vetiver. Sun It Rises is spooky and warm as the introductory number, and Ragged Wood rollicks along with a thrilling shuffle. Right throughout, the band’s arrangements and performance share with the audience a keen sense of hymnal nostalgia for our parent’s generation of folk rock, all the while bringing something new and intriguing to the mix. Not since Midlake’s Van Occupanther has a record left such an immediate and satisfying resonance; Fleet Foxes are flying a flag, a high standard set for other indie musicians following this oft-beaten folk trail.
****
