Devin Clancy
Contributor
If The Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel had a love child, its name would surely be Fleet Foxes. With the release of their self-titled debut album in 2008, Fleet Foxes mixed woodland harmonies with folk-infused acoustic guitar riffs. Lyrical hooks were grounded in themes of brotherhood and nature, resurrecting sounds from a simpler time.
At the end of January fans caught a glimpse of the newest LP, Helplessness Blues, when the band’s title track was released. It didn’t disappoint.
Upon first listen, it’s obvious that Robin Pecknold (lead vocals, guitar) has taken a different approach to his songwriting. He’s less focused on hook-infused melodies, opting instead to concentrate on the song’s overall feel. Starting out with just vocals and a 12-string guitar, Pecknold croons a monologue which grapples with the meaning of life. At the crossroads of this narrative though, the song changes form. It’s here when the sound Fleet Foxes is known for cascades in with drums, electric guitar work and harmonies filling in any holes left in the aural landscape.
Believing that “Helplessness Blues” would be my only taste of the new album until May, hearing “Battery Kinzie,” in March was a pleasant surprise. Unlike the album’s title track, “Battery Kinzie” is an upbeat song that seems to jingle-jangle its way to the finish. The band creates a wall of sound constantly driven forward by punchy piano chords.
Fleet Foxes’ “Grown Ocean” video was a window for fans to see what the band’s been up to. Composed mainly of documentary footage from the making of the album, this video is candid and jovial. Directed by Pecknold’s brother Sean, “Grown Ocean” appears as though it was filmed on an old gritty camera, suggestive of old war footage and home videos. Perhaps its greatest strength lies in how the video aptly matches the mood and speed of the song itself. Cutting between footage of the band, nature and short animation reflects the flurry of vocals, flute and the electric guitar lines. To conclude the song, Pecknold is left accompanied only by his own double-tracked falsetto and wind chimes singing, “I will wake one day, don’t delay me. Why’d I leave her? Always going.”
Perhaps a small detour from their first album, Helplessness Blues shows signs of more personal lyrical exploration and musical complexity. Three years since their debut, the band continues to capture the attention of listeners in sprawling new ways—a change most welcomed by those anxious to get their hands on every new track.
Andrew Stokes
Editorials Editor
“So now I am older …” appropriately begins Fleets Foxes’ newest album. From the get-go it’s clear that they’ve matured, both lyrically and musically. The album permeates with sophisticated questions on existence, relationships and growing old. Helplessness Blues uses less of the band’s trademark harmonies in order to give Pecknold the spotlight.
These changes are apparent on the album’s opening track “Montezuma,” where the harmonies serve as a shifting background for Pecknold’s voice. The album tells the story of a broken relationship and Pecknold’s desire to retreat into a pastoral world. Because their earlier LP, , was so concerned with the bucolic, Helplessness Blues feels like a disenchanted response. Their last album ended with a song about finding a baby and the inability to care for it. Their newest effort begins with a similar thought. “Montezuma” asks whether or not Pecknold is even capable of the trying love that’s required of a parent, and this uncertainty spreads out to cover questions of his own existence and personal worth—questions he never answers.
Imagery of escape is particularly important to Helplessness Blues, and Pecknold continually returns to pastoral images, appealing to a sense of nostalgia. He repeatedly invokes the Isle of Innisfree, made famous by W. B. Yeats’ poem about fleeing into solitude to find peace.
The album’s title track “Helplessness Blues” gives body to this idea. After questioning the fundamental values on which he was raised, Pecknold decides he’d rather reside in an orchard—a life he recognizes as unrealistic. The song ends with the cryptic phrase “one day I’ll be like that man on the screen,” hinting that he’ll accept fate eventually but choose to dream a little longer.
“Helplessness Blues” is followed by “The Cascades,” an instrumental song that showcases Fleet Foxes’ expert arrangements and pacing. Along with “The Plains,” another wordless song, the band shows off their fundamental skill and melodic acumen. Layers accumulate beautifully without overpowering one another.
The second half of the album focuses more pointedly on a failed relationship. “The Shrine / An Argument” develops these feelings and Pecknold’s voice nearly cracks as he barks “sunlight over me no matter what I do,” wondering why the world seems so bright when he feels so utterly dark. For the last few minutes, the song descends into a tonal castrophony, and two saxophones interrupt one another for a jarring dissonance.
This is still the Fleet Foxes many of us have grown to love but there’s a new complexity to them. They’re firmly in an adolescent stage of life and this comes with countless existential questions—ones they never manage to answer.
If you’ve lost love, are growing old or simply want to hear a tight and beautiful album, you’re in luck. Fleet Foxes have done it again.
Tags
Double Take, Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues, Music, Review
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