Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
I just love the Fleet Foxes, they exude that timeless quality so infrequently found in today’s music, they also have that wonderful look, which always reminds me of that other out of time band ‘ The Band’.
So much has been written about this hotly anticipated album. Robin Pecknold has really put his heart and soul into this, lost a relationship in the process… but is it worth it? Absolutely, they have come up with a classic album – a classic already and I have only had the songs in my possession for one day. I have played it over and over again as I have sat in the glorious April sunshine. I won’t review this album track by track as really it needs to be viewed or should I say heard as a whole. It kicks off with a brilliant song ‘Montezuma’, most of the songs on this album are hugely introspective. This one sets the theme, talking of loneliness and immortality, it starts off rather starkly, just Robin and a guitar, then those wondrous beautiful harmonies take the song onto a whole other level… You can really hear all the inspirations that Robin has, the guy has GREAT taste… This is from the press release that comes with the album, you will see here why this album is worth buying before you even hear a track!
I think this music draws influence and inspiration from popular music and folk rock of the mid ‘60s to the early ‘70s, folks like Peter Paul and Mary, John Jacob Niles, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Neil Young, CSN, Judee Sill, Ennio Morricone, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Zombies, SMiLE-era Brian Wilson, Roy Harper, Van Morrison, John Fahey, Robbie Basho, The Trees Community, Duncan Browne, the Electric Prunes, Trees, Pete Seeger, and Sagittarius, among many others. I’d say it’s a synthesis of folk rock, traditional folk, and psychedelic pop, with an emphasis on group vocal harmonies. Astral Weeks was a big inspiration on this album, if not always in sound then in approach. The raw emotion in Van Morrison’s vocals and the trance-like nature of the arrangements were very inspiring for this album!
The album is out May 2nd, they appeared on Jools last night and sounded amazing, catch the repeat on Friday.
