Under stormy night, tell nobody

You probably shouldn’t bother reading this.

I’m sure you’re already well ahead of me on this one.

Because it’s weird, but I have to admit that for a long time I actively ignored Fleet Foxes. I went out of my way to avoid hearing them. Made a point of it. I don’t know why. The closest I could come to offering a sensible explanation, would be to mumble something about them getting such good reviews, that I didn’t think they could live up to the hype. There’s a good chance I’d be shuffling my feet awkwardly while saying it. Like a naughty child, acting innocent but caught red handed. I might throw in a weak justification that I’d had enough of average bands being thrust open me as the next big thing. I’d avoid eye contact as I tried to rationalise the whole thing with an innocent shrug and a resigned sigh that they just happened to be the band that felt my wrath. A weak, pathetic wrath admittedly but a wrath nonetheless. The point being that I was wrong. So wrong that if I’d bothered to take my head out of the proverbial sand, I’d have had another album to slot into my list of favourite records of 2008.

What changed my mind was a chance hearing of ‘White Winter Hymnal’. A chance hearing that turned into love at first listen. Instant adoration. Like being struck by Cupid’s headphones. A strike which turned into constant repeated plays that night. Which became a trip to the shops the very next day to buy it’s parent album. A record which has since become the one I turn to when I can’t decide what to listen to. A near perfect record. Full of laid back, timeless, gorgeous melodies that are hauntingly beautifully and dreamily produced. With a similar evocation of the wilderness and the great American outdoors, it feels like a widescreen companion piece to ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’. It’s wistful. Yearning. Crafted from the finest Americana and guaranteed to be held as a modern classic. Sadly for me, it also feels like one of those records that makes you hope they never record a follow up. That they perfected what they set out to do first time round and anything more will just be a pale shallow rerun of the ideas and sounds created here. I hope it won’t be the case but I fear it will.

But hey, like I said at the start, you probably knew all this last year. I’m sure I’m merely preaching to the converted. But if there’s a slight chance that you, like me, hadn’t heard Fleet Foxes, make amends now. Buy the album and get ready to fall head over heels.

Fleet Foxes - mykonos (live acoustic session version) original version available on 'Sun Giant'

Fleet Foxes - blue ridge mountains (live acoustic session version) original version available on 'Fleet Foxes'

mp3 / music / fleet foxes