The Rocket

Issue date: 12/5/08 Section: Focus

Dan Zeltmann [Click to enlarge]

Fleet Foxes is a five-piece band from Seattle, Wash. The band has been working to create vocally arousing songs since the release of their 2006 self-titled Extended Play.

After two years, they followed that EP with a second called, "Sun Giant." This release was nothing but a taste of what was to come.

On June 3, Fleet Foxes debuted their first full-length studio album entitled, "Fleet Foxes."

The band consists of Robin Pecknold, Skye Skjelset, Jay Tillman, Casey Wescott and Christian Wargo, who all interchangeably sing and play drums, guitar, keyboard and bass.

The only true permanent position on stage and on the record is that of Pecknold, who writes all the lyrics and often carries out the main vocals on each song.

As a vocally concentrated band, it is no surprise that the album's first track starts with a sing-a-long-esque tune called, "Sun It Rises." It quickly transforms into a soft song with rich acoustic guitar, some light drums, electric guitar and a banjo.

"Sun It Rises" leads into a beautiful song called, "White Winter Hymnal." The song starts with Pecknold's strong vocals repeating, "I was following/I was following/I was following."

He is soon accompanied by the rest of the band mates to finish is his thought, "I was following the pack/All swallowed in their coats/With scarves of red tied 'round their throats/To keep their little heads from following in the snow."

National Public Radio (NPR) Music reviewed Fleet Foxes as having a "sound combining the baroque psychedelic pop of the 60s, harp singing, gospel and folk music."

This description is well represented in the song, "Ragged Wood," which has a phenomenal display of harmonies.

One of my personal favorite songs on the album is entitled, "He Doesn't Know Why."

The song starts with harmonized moans from the group as Pecknold begins to sing,

"Penniless and tired, with your hair grown long/I was looking at you there and your face looked wrong/memory is a fickle siren song/I didn't understand."

As you get deeper into the song, it becomes filled with gentle guitar, piano, bass and eventually drums. It's a gentle song that builds to finish powerfully, but still carries the intimate sincerity it possessed at the start.

The final song is entitled, "Oliver James." The majority of the song is just Pecknold singing to a soft beat.

It's sung a cappella until, if the room is quiet enough, you can make out the gentle acoustic guitar.

"Oliver James" is clearly written in a storyboard fashion.

Pecknold sings, "On the way to your bother's house in the valley, dear/By the river bridge a cradle floating beside me/In the whitest water on the banks against the stone/You will lift his body from the shore and bring him home."

The chorus follows, "Oliver James washed in the rain no longer." The meaning is not exactly known, but the song is beautifully done.

Fleet Foxes' 2008 full-length self-titled CD is an 11-song album and a total of 39:15 minutes. Each song holds a multitude of influences from decades of musical brilliance in folk, gospel and psychedelic music.

Professional reviews generally acknowledged this album extremely well. It received four to five stars from magazines such as Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Spin and The Times.

THE BOTTOM LINE



Fleet Foxes' first album release is definitely a great foundation off which to build a musical career. Their sound is something that was seemingly lost, but was greatly missed. They bring in the roots by which they were influenced, and then warp them into their own elegant style. It is a hard act to follow, but I look forward to their next release. My advice: listen to Fleet Foxes and keep your eyes open. They will be huge.

Dan Zeltmann is a sophomore secondary education English major and a regular contributor to The Rocket.

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