Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Sub Pop Records (2008)

I picked up the Fleet Foxes self-titled album on a whim, having heard almost nothing but good things about it. I know, I know, I'm late to the party, this was big last year. Oh well. I don't know what I can say about this album that hasn't already been said. Oh, wait, I know. It's pretty decent. That's right. I said it.

"Pretty decent."

"But Dai," you ask, "aren't you supposed to fall down at the feet of whoever the most recent indie darling is?"

Not this time, bud. I like the album, I really do, but it's not perfect. This is an album that, when viewed in geographic terms, has islands of perfection surrounded by a sea of meh. It is, in fact, half of a great album. By cutting out the crap, this would have been the greatest EP to ever grace the Earth. The first four tracks are a great example. "Sun It Rises" is a wonderful example of how to open an album. The a capella opening ("Red Squirrel") leading into the waltz-like opening strains of the song proper tell you exactly what you're going to get on this album: great harmony, acoustic folksy instrumentation, and well done arrangements.

"White Winter Hymnal" reinforces this to no small degree, with an evocative lyric made stronger by repetition. The band claims there is no meaning to the lyrics, but it's hard not to find some meaning in the words "[a]nd Michael you would fall / and turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime."

"Ragged Wood" is great, as is "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song"; one man, one guitar, and a bit of a break from the dense folky harmony on the rest of the disc. It's very melancholy, and honestly quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, that's where things get a little bit bumpy. "Quiet Houses" is possibly the most annoying song I've heard all year (last year too). I think there are only nine, maybe twelve words in the ENTIRE SONG. And they're drilled over and over into your head until you can't make any sense of it.

The band makes a comeback with "He Doesn't Know Why", which is either my favourite or second favourite song on the disc, depending on how I feel. The rising and falling lyrics combined with the slightly building instrumental backing makes this a keeper. The bridge shows helplessness and leads back into the choral "ah-ah" section to close.

The rest of the album is a bit of a downer, with quasi-instrumental "Heard Them Stirring" and snoozefest "Meadowlarks" surrounding the last real gem of the album, "Your Protector." With its rolling beat and oscillating lyrical line during the chorus, this is the closest this album ever gets to danceable, but that's okay, that's not what they're trying to do. I hope.

"Blue Ridge Mountains" and "Oliver James" are both respectable, though the latter might be a better fit for a B-sides compilation in a decade or so as an example of how far they've come.

All in all, a pretty decent album, or an excellent EP. The fact that the best songs save two were front-loaded tells me that they maybe didn't try hard enough on the rest of the album. Still, this is definitely a band to watch, and despite being from the Pacific Northwest, they have the humility of a small-town band from somewhere in Appalachia.

***1/2 (out of 5)