White Winter Hyminals - The Fleet Foxes Are Busting Out of the Den

The Fleet Foxes, led by vocalist-guitarist Robin Pecknold, are a Seattle based harmonic folk quintet that take the sounds of 60's psychedelic pop, gospel and folk; mixed with the beautiful harmonies of four out of the five members to create a melodic sound that is unmatched by anyone else on the market. In 2006, the band released a self titled EP, followed by a second release in April of 2008 titled Sun Giant. Unconvinced that this second EP represented their true intentions, they released their first full length debut album titled Fleet Foxes two months later, which sports the 1559 painting "Netherlandish Proverbs" by Pieter Bruegel on its cover. Pecknold stated: "When you first see that painting it’s very bucolic, but when you look closer there’s all this really strange stuff going on, like dudes defecating coins into the river and people on fire, people carving a live sheep, this weird dude who looks like a tree root sitting around with a dog. There’s all this really weird stuff going on. I liked that the first impression is that it’s just pretty, but then you realize that the scene is this weird chaos. I like that you can’t really take it for what it is, that you’re first impression of it is wrong.'
Much like the painting, at first sight the burly appearance of the band makes it seem as if they trekked straight down the Cascades to stock up on a weeks worth of rations, but once they open their mouths, you will find a rich and resonant sound that will blow your mind. The Band is comprised of Robin Pecknold on lead vocals and guitar, Skyler Skjelset on lead guitar, Christian Wargo on bass, guitar, and vocals, Casey Wescott on keys and vocals, and Josh Tillman on drums and vocals.

A Few days ago, I found what appears to be a side project of Pecknold's called "White Antelope" out of Port Townsend, Washington, streaming two songs on their MySpace page. One of the songs is folk standard 'False Knight On The Road', which will feature as a B-side on the upcoming Fleet Foxes single 'Mykonos', and on the re-release of their self-titled 2008 debut album. It was recorded solo by Pecknold last year.

He told Chocolate Bobka: "I used to post demos of songs on that page before the record came out. The 'Guitar Duet' thing dates back from when we were recording the LP and the cover of 'False Knight'. I posted the first demo of 'Blue Ridge Mountains' (when it was called 'Stirring', before the other 'Stirring') on there before which I might put that back up....it had different instrumentation and was kinda cool.... Right now I am alone in this house we've rented to record the next record in, and tomorrow I am going to record a cover of 'Ridge Rider', the Judee Sill song, for this compilation. Trying to write new stuff is hard right now for some reason".
From what has come out of Pecknold thus far, I have no doubt that his next creation will be nothing short of brilliant!



Getting back to the Fleet Foxes, The acoustically-inclined Seattle band has certainly tapped into a particular ilk of people that devour indie-folk acts on blogs everywhere, resulting in a rabid following. The blogosphere’s manic enthusiasm for new bands often becomes deflated later on, which instigated a recent Fleet Foxes MySpace quote ("Hey friends. It's just music. We really love you.") “If I could have that quote say ‘don’t expect anything,’ I would put that,” Pecknold quips. With a band as prone to reinvention as Fleet Foxes to helm, it’s hard to doubt his forecast.

For all of you who have not had the pleasure of indulging in Fleet Fox mania, I leave you with a few videos to nourish your pallet...they have remained #1 on my playlist for the past 6 months, so I hope you enjoy them as much as I do: