fleet foxes

Fleet Foxes combined divergent elements of traditional music into hauntingly beautiful baroque harmonic pop with vocal harmonies that evoke ancient mysteries in new and inventive ways on the bearded, blue-eyed, backwoods psychedelia of their earnest and engaging self-titled debut.  Robin Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset met as high school students in Kirkland, a suburb of Seattle and started playing together as The Pineapples.  They changed their name to Fleet Foxes because another local band was using the other name.  Pecknold says:   "It was just an excuse to record the music I wrote.  And then, when we started meeting other people and a band formed, it was like, 'This is fun to do at home – let's play a show!' There was no masterplan."

Playing around the Seattle area, they caught the attention of producer Phil Ek, who helped them record the demos that became their first self released EP.    Ek remembers:   "I knew Robin, I knew Robin’s sister and knew all his family. He’s been around Seattle for a long time. He’s a fairly young guy, but just by being around town and knowing his family and stuff like that. We’d talked about it and I helped him do some of his demo, mixed his demo and helped shop that to labels. It was a very different sound but it was still very good...As he started writing differently I thought we got to do something for real, so we went into the studio and over a period of a year made that first Fleet Foxes record. Then I helped shop them to Sub Pop who eventually picked them up. So the record was made on the band’s dollar without Sub Pop’s involvement until it was actually finished. The ‘Sun Giant’ EP was done after the LP was finished. "

They joined with Casey Wescott and Christian Wargo who had their own duo Crystal Skulls.  Wescott revealed:   “The two bands were separate and I’d known Christian since I was 15.  I met Robin and Sky through mutual friends. So I joined them about two years ago and Christian joined last year...The record we finished in November [2007] and we then did an EP ['Sun Giant'], and then Josh came in. It wasn’t until we started recreating it live that I felt the thing started to gel. When you’re making record you’re just idea-capturing as opposed to thinking ’we’re this unit‘. But now we are.”

'Fleet Foxes' was recorded with Robin Pecknold on lead vocals and guitar; Skyler Skjelset on drums, percussion, and vocals; Casey Wescott on keyboards and vocals; and Craig Curran on bass and vocals; with Gwen Owen on flute.  The sessions were produced by the band and Phil Ek.  Because they could not afford studio time, most of the recordings were done at various houses and basements.   Pecknold considers:    "We finished the album in November and we finished the EP in January, I think. Looking back on them now, those are failures. I can hear every little thing that I would change. The recording process was pretty piecemeal-- record that guitar part here, and record that thing over there, and that's the first time you've ever played that thing but the final take is on the album. It was a lot of writing parts straight to tape. So I think if the recordings were all we had to go on, I would want to start the next record tomorrow and have something we could feel good about right now. To me the songs have evolved with each show, or at least they've solidified themselves into what they were meant to be ... To me, the most enjoyable thing in the world is to sing harmony with people.  All we strove for with this record was to make something that was an honest reflection of who we are, citizens of the western United States who love all kinds of music and above all else love singing."

'Fleet Foxes' was released on Warner subsidiary Sub-Pop and went to number ninety in Australia, seventy-eight in France, fifty-one in Germany, thirty-nine in the Netherlands, thirty-six in Denmark and the US, sixteen in Sweden, fourteen in Norway, twelve in Belgium, and number three in the UK. The album cover is taken from the 1559 painting Netherlandish Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.





http://fleetfoxes.com/











"Sun It Rises"  







"White Winter Hymnal"  






"Blue Ridge Mountains"  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIU4A_TiGeo


http://vimeo.com/45812653








"Mykonos"
http://vimeo.com/53104416









'Fleet Foxes'
full album playlist:




All songs written by Robin Pecknold.


1. "Sun It Rises"   3:14
2. "White Winter Hymnal"   2:27
3. "Ragged Wood"   5:07
4. "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song"   3:28
5. "Quiet Houses"   3:32
6. "He Doesn't Know Why"   3:20
7. "Heard Them Stirring"   3:02
8. "Your Protector"   4:09
9. "Meadowlarks"   3:11
10. "Blue Ridge Mountains"   4:25
11. "Oliver James"   3:23








'Sun Giant' + 'Fleet Foxes'



(Sun Giant )


1)0:00- "Sun Giant"

2) 2:14- "Drops In The River"

3)6:27- "English House"

4) 11:09- "Mykonos"

5) 15:44- " Innocent Sun"