Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes are the new musical group to watch and listen to. I have recently discovered this band, and I am addicted to listening to them. They are so melodic, easy-going, and relaxing... It's easy to mellow out when you put them on.

Fleet Foxes are an Indie rock, folksy band that sounds like a cross between Iron and Wine, Band of Horses, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. They sound like they're from the early 1970s, that slow, mellow folk-rock sound. It is quite soothing to have on with whatever you're doing.

They would classify their music as "baroque harmonic pop jams."

This band is from Seattle, and last year they put out their first complete album, self-titled. They have an EP that came out in 2006 called Sun Giant which hosts my favorite song, "Myknonos." They even look like they're out of a different decade. The lead singer sports scattered long hair from the 70s. Their clothing is very indie. The band members all look very different, like they wouldn't normally be friends unless it was for music, but something with them totally works. They play so well together, especially when most of them sing together in harmony.

Rolling Stone Magazine gave Fleet Foxes a four star review: "Indie rock is undergoing a folk renaissance, which has spawned some great harmony singing. Case in point: Fleet Foxes' debut opens with a woozy a cappella that's part sacred-harp-choral tradition, part Beach Boys, and it resolves into a Celtic-flavored march with a searing Richard Thompson-style guitar line. The 11 songs are mostly pastorals — the sun rises, snow falls, spring comes, birds fly and, on "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song," the "tall grasses wave/They do not know you anymore." (Dis!) This style is what critics used to label "freak folk" before the term became verboten, though plain freakin' lovely is more to the point. A lower-dosage Animal Collective, the Foxes stuff their free-form songs with rich, swirling melodies; billowing clouds of organs, tom-toms, bells and assorted stringed instruments cloak group vocals whose secular-gospel, suede-fringed precision owes plenty to Crosby, Stills and Nash (check out the gorgeous intro to "He Doesn't Know Why"). The lyrics are haunted by mortality — one song finds the singer "staggering through premonitions of my death," and another's narrator finds a drowned child on the banks of a river — but the exquisite voices thrum with life."



I think the clincher for me was when they performed on Saturday Night Live. They were INCREDIBLE. They absolutely won me over. First they played "Blue Ridge Mountains," then they played my favorite, "Mykonos." I hope this exposure will help them out, because they already seem to be a huge hit among many crowds.

Suggested songs to listen to if you want to get into Fleet Foxes: "Mykonos" (obviously), "Sun It Rises," "Winter White Hymnal," "Blue Ridge Mountains," "Your Protector," or "Ragged Wood."

Watch for them travelling and performing at festivals this year. If you haven't heard of them before, try them out. You won't be disappointed. They are an excellent new sound for new music. I am disappointed most of the time with where music is going, but bands like Fleet Foxes give me hope to take music in a positive direction.

And look at how cool their album cover is. What an incredible piece of artwork. You can analyze that guy for a while to uncover its meaning. Very artsy, very cool.

So what do you think of Fleet Foxes?