Fleet Foxes hone their sound

Matthew Fondevilla
Contributor
Two years after labouring on their first album in a bohemian enclave outside Seattle, Washington, Fleet Foxes have a new record. The band continued on their purist path, settling into a creaky, inhospitable wooden cabin nestled in Port Townsend to record and write their latest 12-track album Helplessness Blues.
According to interviews, the studio-household live-in was a tense experience for the band members, who claimed frontman Robin Pecknold was controlling, forcing them to work excessive hours.
The band spent nine months living and writing in the makeshift studio, a result of Pecknold’s perfectionist nature. His band mates tried convincing him that the album was done, but Pecknold insisted that more work was needed.
Fleet Foxes’ first album seemed to express Pecknold’s gratitude to all the people in his life who have helped him on the road to his dream. Blues, however, has another personal ambition that is raw and direct, reflecting Pecknold’s experience of life and music after the release of the previous album.
“Montezuma” starts the album with a refreshing yet familiar sound. With its spacious, open melody and echoing vocals, the song projects a more mature Robin Pecknold comparing his musical growth to people in his life.
Midway through the album, the title track shares Pecknold’s struggle with inner conflicts he has had since the last album’s release. It poses the fairly universal question of whether or not it is worth it to go after what you desire only to isolate yourself from others. In response, he sings: “I was raised up believing I was somehow unique / Like a snowflake, distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you’d conceive /  And now after some thinking I’d say I’d rather be / A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me.”
The mid-tempo guitar strumming and Pecknold’s demanding voice reveals his altruistic intent. The band takes the risk again of using oddball instruments not heard in contemporary music like the dulcimer, harp, and zither.
The reminiscent harmonies and imagery-filled verses paint us a picture of Pecknold’s growth in music and his personal life. Returning fans and appreciative newcomers will admire the psychedelic elements and earthy sound.
Combined with the band’s efforts and Pecknold’s persistence, Fleet Foxes reaches new depths that stray from their last album. The concluding track, “Grown Oceans”, reminds us that even with all these personal conflicts, there’s always a place where we can dream that reminds us of what we truly are about: “In that dream I could hardly contain it / All my life I will wait to attain it.”