Ugh. I began to write this entry while procrastinating a week’s worth of hell, and I finished it doing the same thing. Only this time it was a different week. Regardless, this list took a lot longer than the last, for obvious reasons, and only makes me dread making part 3 (the movies list) sometime in later January in ways that still somehow allow me to look forward to it. Either way, it’s a nice feeling of relief to know I’m done with this, and I like my picks. I’m eager to see how different mine are from Pitchfork. After all, that’s the only reason I wanted to put this out so soon – to beat Pitchfork and to prevent myself from being influenced. Anyway, here goes.
Posts Tagged Fleet Foxes
Look at me, the Proletariat! Fleet Foxes review
So I’m now a working man, that’s a good thing, even though it’s not the best paying job in the world. It’s an internship for Jonathan Smith, who’s running for State Assembly in the 102nd district, and I’ll be doing a bunch of random campaign work. But enough about that.
Fleet Foxes is a band that I had only heard of because my friend Richie tipped me off to the Pitchfork review of their debut EP Sun Giant because it contained a comparison of the band to Pinetop Seven, which is one of my favorite bands, in part because no one has ever heard of them. Seriously, I have never met anyone who has ever heard of Pinetop Seven without me telling them. Well, anyway, after hearing Fleet Foxes’ newly-released, self-titled, full-length de-but, I’m not ready to make that comparison just yet, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a great album.
The supposed similarity between the two bands is a nice jumping-off (jeez, how many hyphens can a guy use?) point though. Lead singer Robin Pecknold has a similar voice inflection to Pinetop Seven frontman Darren Richard; a very throaty quality that is charming and enthralling, especially when their respective voices near the tops of their ranges. However, where Pinetop Seven is dark and wide, giving the impression of an open road out on the frontier in the middle of the night, Fleet Foxes are bright and intimate, like a dense forest in summertime.
The quality of this music that jumps out the most at any listener is the frequent vocal harmony. It dominates nearly every track, and as opposed to yesterday’s reviewee Born Ruffians, the lyrics themselves are only tangentially important, the voices are such powerful instruments. However, I can’t shake the feeling that the album slows down in quality as it goes on. “Oliver James”, the closing track, sounds very derivative of Simon & Garfunkel (which is ironic, considering it’s one of the few tracks on the album without harmony), which differs from the rest of the album in that it doesn’t seem to offer anything new – Simon & Garfunkel were great, but that music has already been made.
By the same token, the opener “Sun It Rises” is my absolute favorite track on the album, influenced in no small part to the hypnotic, very rhythmic guitar, which changes from acoustic to electric after a very Grizzly Bear-like crescendo. Also, their harmony is at its most haunting, especially when the instruments are removed and we’re just left with their voices.
I really dig and recommend this album, as a great debut from a band that has really set itself up for a long run of consistently very good albums – it’s hard to screw up with voices like those.
Wow, that post was hard to finish. I took lots of breaks and felt very procrastinatey. Hopefully that won’t continue. I’ll probably have another movie review tomorrow, so until then, stay out of trouble, you crazy kids.
I Ate My DVD Collection 