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Fleet Foxes album review

Fans of American alt-folk have had their rural simulation ‘nostalgia’ indulged over the past few years, with Midlake and Band of Horses bringing plaid shirts and beards to indie mainstream. But it seems Seattle-based quintet Fleet Foxes have upped the ante for those on the Sub Pop and Bella Union labels, marrying hymns, close-harmonies and heart-felt vocals to create what can be described without hyperbole as one of the best albums of 2008.

A voice with power and soul enough to silence the quiet laments of Tim Smith and Ben Bridwell, 22-year-old front man Robin Pecknold first made heartbeats quicken and compassion blaze on February’s EP Sun Giant.

Now the band’s eponymous debut embraces all that enchants on Sun Giant’s stand-out track ‘Mykonos‘; with the spirit of 70s America so evident in tight group harmonies that many have pronounced a reincarnation of true country-era CSN.

Subtle, delicate acoustics, haunting baroque melodies and hymnal arrangements cushion lyrics that make it difficult to believe Fleet Foxes was born from cityscape rather than fantasy woodland: “Through the forest, down to your grave, where the birds wade and the tall grasses wave, they do not know you anymore,” Pecknold mourns in ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’.

The surreal imagery wrapped in jovial camp-fire round ‘White Winter Hymnal’ –”scarves of red tied around their throats, to keep their little heads from falling in the snow,” – and echoing splendour that builds around the piercing piano riffs of ‘Blue Ridge Mountain’ are just two stand-out moments on an album of involving beauty and serenity.

An intricately well-crafted record, Fleet Foxes reverbs like a classic after a single listen.

4/5

Fleet Foxes - http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes

© 2008 Brighton Sound.