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 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.

Fleet Foxes' super-prolific drummer Joshua Tillman also released the solo albums I Will Return (Keep Recordings, 2005), Long May You Run (Keep Recordings, 2006), Documented (2006), Minor Works (Fargo, 2006), Cancer & Delirium (Yer Bird, 2007), Vacilando Territory Blues (Western Vinyl, 2009), Year in the Kingdom (2009). At his best, he drew from the desperate verve of Neil Young and early Van Morrison to paint a series of disturbing self-portraits at the pace of scorching albeit spartan blues-rock, folk-rock and soul-rock.

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. 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, Father John Misty, with Fear Fun (2012), a more vibrant collection embellished by the eccentric and clever stories of Funtimes in Babylon, Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings and I'm Writing a Novel.

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.

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