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).
Fleet Foxes' co-founder Skyler Skjelset released solo albums in the ambient genre:
Noh (2014), with
the 13-minute variations on a dissonant Zen-tinged guitar melody Seattle Guitar Flashback,
the ten-minute coarse psychedelic guitar distortion that slowly turns into a fluttering minimalist pattern Zero
the dialogue between an abrasive glissando and random piano notes Mishima
not exactly groundbreaking
Sunup (2015), with the more consistent 16-minute
placid languid sparkling droning cosmic music
Artica,
Ink Chord (2016), with the tidal drone symphony 16-minute Sama,
that towards the end incorporates an electronic rhythm
and
Back in Heaven (2020).
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.
Fleet Foxes' co-founder Skyler Skjelset progressively faded away and released solo albums in the ambient genre:
Noh (2014), with the 13-minute Seattle Guitar Flashback,
Sunup (2015), with the 16-minute Artica,
Ink Chord (2016), with the 16-minute Sama,
and
Back in Heaven (2020).
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.
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