Indie rock is undergoing a folk renaissance, which has spawned some great harmony singing.
Case in point: Fleet Foxes' debut opens with a woozy a cappella that's
part sacred-harp-choral tradition, part Beach Boys, and it resolves into
a Celtic-flavored march with a searing Richard Thompson-style guitar
line. The 11 songs are mostly pastorals — the sun rises, snow
falls, spring comes, birds fly and, on "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song,"
the "tall grasses wave/They do not know you anymore." (Dis!) This style
is what critics used to label "freak folk" before the term became
verboten, though plain freakin' lovely is more to the point. A
lower-dosage Animal Collective, the Foxes stuff their free-form songs
with rich, swirling melodies; billowing clouds of organs, tom-toms,
bells and assorted stringed instruments cloak group vocals whose
secular-gospel, suede-fringed precision owes plenty to Crosby, Stills
and Nash (check out the gorgeous intro to "He Doesn't Know Why"). The
lyrics are haunted by mortality — one song finds the singer
"staggering through premonitions of my death," and another's narrator
finds a drowned child on the banks of a river — but the exquisite
voices thrum with life.
(Posted: Jun 12, 2008)
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Track List
- Sun it Rises
- White Winter Hymnal
- Ragged Wood
- Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
- Quiet Houses
- He Doesn't Know Why
- Heard Them Stirring
- Your Protector
- Meadowlarks
- Blue Ridge Mountains
- Oliver James
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Your Turn
Review 1 of 1
No Screen Name writes:
This album deserves 4 and a half at least. A typically poor review from Will Hermes.
Sep 13, 2008 00:42:04
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.