Yes, that's right, I'm reviewing the Fleet Foxes' latest today. I know I'm kind of biased toward the harder genres of music, and I'll admit, I'm not usually one for folk or indie rock, but I like to try everything once, and when I listened to the Foxes' self-titled debut, I was hooked.
Their latest, Helplessness Blues, definitely doesn't disappoint. One thing I have noticed about the Seattle band is that their music is very evocative of nature, whatever the mood of the song happens to be. This was very evident in the first track, "Montezuma," which to me was reminiscent of sunrise, all golden light and the view from a pine forest.
Rolling Stone writer Matthew Perpetua commented that lead singer Robin Pecknold's voice has a "natural beauty," and I would have to agree there. It's very apparent in the layered harmonies and dreamy musings on this album. The most surprising song on this album, "The Shrine / An Argument," finds Pecknold in a raspy near-scream, which fits well with the sort of Old West, gunslinger-type attitude of the song.
The album picks up with such songs as "Bedouin Dress," which has more of a clopping, horsetrot beat and lively fiddle melodies, and "Battery Kinzie," which has probably the heaviest drums on the album.
The title track is a whimsical denouncement of individualism, with such phrases as "I'd rather be / A functioning cog in some great machinery / Serving something beyond me."
"The Cascades" was a surprise: an elegiac, instrumental song sandwiched between "Lorelai," a light song that explores a relationship, and the aforementioned "The Shrine." But it does fit with the lyrical depth of the album: though the music is belyingly optimistic, many of Pecknold's lyrics have a more urgent message upon closer inspection: "Battery Kinzie" opens with the lines: "I woke up one morning / All my fingers rotten / I woke up a dying man without a chance," while "Blue-Spotted Tail" questions the mysteries of the universe with the refrain: "Why is life made only for to end?"
The one thing I found discordant and slightly strange was the weird horn sounds in the middle of "The Shrine / An Argument." Now I know a lot of seasoned Foxes fans will probably say it's all part of the "art." Maybe I'm just an uncultured boor, but I have been to several art museums, and I have never seen the point in painting a canvas yellow and calling it a "masterpiece," or splashing some pink paint on a washer and dryer set and calling it "mystical and evocative." This was, I felt, an unnecessary element in an otherwise wonderful song.
All in all, though, the album was a beautiful and somehow innocent trip through a psyche, and I very much recommend it - even to those who don't like this sort of thing.
Listen to the album through Rolling Stone here.
Best tracks: "Montezuma," "The Cascades," "Blue-Spotted Tail," "The Plains / Bitter Dancer"
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