Fleet Foxes

They fulfilled the promises of the EP on Fleet Foxes (Subpop, 2008), with the quintet (including guitarist Christian Wargo, keyboardist Casey Wescott and drummer Joshua Tillman) now a tight unit. The album's main asset is the multi-part harmonies that turn several songs into disorienting experiences, beyond what the Beach Boys and Crosby Stills & Nash were capable of: the quasi-religious fervor of Sun it Rises, matched by the shimmering tones of the guitar; the quasi-gothic murmur of Heard Them Stirring, contrasted by delicate strumming and booming ambience; etc. When an infectious rhythm and a candid melody are wed to the baroque vocal harmonies, the result is crystalline creations such as White Winter Hymnal (one of their signature songs) and He Doesn't Know Why. The subtle arrangements add their own brand of sonic experience to songs such as Your Protector (flute and organ).
Remnants of traditional music can be sighted in songs such as Ragged Wood, that blend an Appalachian-inspired quasi-yodeling lead voice with trotting drums, or Quiet Houses, that hints at church music and bluegrass music from a higher dimension, or Blue Ridge Mountains. These songs virtually redefine the sagging genre of "alt-country". Pecknold completes the magic with his own vocal prowess, as displayed in Tiger Mountain Peasant Song (a neoclassical madrigal for voice and guitar) and Oliver James. Their melodic elegance has few rivals.

I Fleet Foxes, capeggiati dal cantautore Robin Pecknold, suonano un folk-rock per l’era post-emo. Le cinque canzoni dell’Ep Sun Giant (2008) introducono l’anomalo sound della band con un inno a cappella come Sun Giant, l’alternativamente catatonica e vigorosa Drops in the River, l’ipnotica e oscillante English House, la lineare Mykonos (la cosa più vicina al power-pop dell’album) e il lamento appalachiano di Innocent Sun per voce e chitarra, ciascuna con ritmi stravagantemente deformati (o senza alcun ritmo) e dinamiche imprevedibili dentro strutture melodiche apparentemente semplici.

C’è abbastanza magia per richiamare alla mente combi acid-rock come gli It's A Beautiful Day, armonizzatori del Marseybeat come gli Hollies e i revivalisti del folk come la Incredible String Band.

I Fleet Foxes mantengono le promesse dell’Ep sul primo album Fleet Foxes (Subpop, 2008). Il suo pregio principale sono le armonie multi-parti che trasformano diverse canzoni in esperienze disorientanti, oltre quello che Beach Boys e Crosby Stills & Nash erano capaci di fare: l’ardore quasi religioso di Sun it Rises, armonizzato con i toni scintillanti delle chitarra; il mormorio quasi gotico di Heard Them Stirring, contrastato da uno strimpellio delicato e un’ambientazione risonante, etc. Quando un ritmo contagioso e una candida melodia vengono combinati a barocche armonie vocali, il risultato sono cristalline creazioni come White Winter Hymnal e Doesn't Know Why. Gli arrangiamenti penetranti appongono da soli il marchio di esperienza sonora a canzoni come Your Protector (flauto e organo).

Rimasugli di musica tradizionale possono essere avvistati invece in episodi come Ragged Wood, che fondono la voce guida quasi yodel di ispirazione appalachiana a una batteria trottante, o Quiet Houses che allude alla musica da chiesa e bluegrass da una più alta dimensione, o ancora Blue Ridge Mountains.

I brani ridefiniscono virtualmente un genere in esaurimento come l’"alt-country". Pecknold completa la magia con la sua maestria vocale, come dimostra in Tiger Mountain Peasant Song (un madrigale neoclassico per voce e chitarra) e Oliver James. La loro eleganza melodica ha pochi rivali.

The Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues (SubPop, 2011) was much more traditional than the first one, almost a tribute to old-fashioned folk-rock of the 1960s with quaint acoustic instruments and simple domestic melodies. The quasi-yodeling croon and doo-wop harmonies of Montezuma feel like the Everly Brothers dropped into a cocktail lounge. The cosmopolitan raga-psychedelic dance Bedouin Dress feels like a suddenly energized Simon & Garfunkel, and the spartan Blue Spotted Tail exudes the innocence of early Donovan. In theory the musical mood ranges from the lively and stomping Battery Kinzie (perhaps the most immediate song of the lot) to the ecstatic/impressionistic The Plains/Bitter Dancer, with a balanced peak in the dreamy country elegy Lorelei. In practice, too many of the songs are faceless, and even the better ones are hard to tell from each other: this is just lulling background muzak for summer picnics. The Cascades apes new-age music's take on Celtic music (and makes new-age music sound like avantgarde). The booming Grown Ocean apes orchestral pop without the orchestra. Others are plain aimless and confusing, like Helplessness Blues that neurotically changes personality a few times, never quite finding an interesting one, or like the eight-minute The Shrine/an Argument, that tries to rescue its monotonous cry at first with martial pomp, then with a church-like invocation, and finally with free-jazz ostentation.

Meanwhile, Joshua Tillman, relocated to Los Angeles, continued his solo career under a new moniker and a new persona, the drunk and horny Father John Misty.

Two members of the Fleet Foxes (Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott) joined brothers Ian and Peter Murray to form Poor Moon that debuted with the EP Illusion (Sub Pop, 2012), sounding a lot like the Fleet Foxes. The full-length Poor Moon (Sub Pop, 2012) contains mostly slow-motion filler, over which the Sixties revival pop of Waiting For easily towers, but it is not exactly revolutionary (in fact thousands of pub bands have songs like this in their repertory).

Robin Pecknold resurrected the Fleet Foxes for Crack-Up (Nonesuch, 2017), a much more complex work than anything they had done before. Missing are the focused heartfelt soulful melodies, replaced by convoluted multi-layered architectures. The crux of the album are the two multi-part compositions. I Am All That I Need/Arroyo Seco/Thumbprint Scar is only six-minute long, but those six minutes pack an incredible amount of changes, beginning like a stoned David Crosby-ian invocation before the guitar unleashes a torrential minimalist pattern that spawns vocal harmonies a` la Hollies that fizzles out into a feeble lament and so on. The process is akin to the prog-pop of early Genesis. The nine-minute mini-opera Third of May/ Odaigahara sounds like a Broadway musical paying serial tribute to Neil Young, John Denver and so on, and then inviting on stage Leo Kottke for a solo-guitar improvisation. There is much confusion, a bit of bombast, and little cohesion in these two centerpieces. The dense arrangements hijack even the simplest melodic ideas, but the results tend to be more engaging. Fool's Errand sounds like the Mamas & the Papas arranged by VanDyke Parks before Frank Sinatra steals the microphone for an operatic moonlight croon. Cassius is wrapped up in the emphatic semi-orchestral arrangements of Brit-pop of the 1990s (the "Madchester" sound in particular). Mearcstapa evokes the baroque folk-jazz of Van Morrison's Moondance. Naiads Cassadies borrows the Indian-tinged funereal suspense of the Doors's The End before turning into a laid-back, hummed, country-rock shuffle. Kept Woman sounds like a Renaissance hymn sung by Simon & Garfunkel while the guitar engages in austere minimalist repetition. Even the most timid song, the martial Warren Zevon-ian nightmare of If You Need to, Keep Time on me, is both propelled and hampered by its intricate piano work. The album ends with the mournful march, fanfare and cosmic invocation of Crack-Up, another song that changes skin multiple times.

The Fleet Foxes returned after three years with another set of charming but conservative ditties, Shore (Anti, 2020). Robin Pecknold pens sweet melodic fantasias like Sunblind and Maestranza, and croons the stately pop-soul ballad Can I Believe You and the ponderous A Long Way Past the Past, These are tunes that hark back to the golden age of the Brill Building. Best is probably the breezy Merseybeat-sounding Jara, the outlier. The second half of the album contains the most touching songs: the delicate I'm not my Season, the polyphonic hymn-like Thymia, and Going-to-the-Sun Road, with funereal and impressionistic phrases of trumpets and trombones.