Quick Before it Melts

Tuesday 06 January 2009

He doesn’t know why

Way back on my birthday last year, I posted a short piece about Fleet Foxes, the Seattle band who had (at the time) just released an EP as precursor to their proper full-length debut album.  I discovered the band when I was writing the Singles column over at Twisted Ear, and had this to say about their Sun Giant EP: “First, you’ll be silenced by the utter beauty of the a cappella harmonies that introduce Sun Giant, then you’ll be mesmerized by its hymn-like melody, and by the time the mandolin (or guitar, or banjo, or whatever it is) is introduced at the very end, you’ll forever remember the name Fleet Foxes.”

And forever remember I did.  So too did a whole host of others, because–if you haven’t noticed–Fleet Foxes have become the indie music world success story of 2008.  Fleet Foxes the album has been at the top of so many best-of lists this year and had so much press written about them that I kind of feel embarrassed about not giving them any more face time then I did originally.  As a matter of fact, I think I started my own little Fleet Foxes backlash of one, because I didn’t pay the album any attention once the reviews started rolling.  When I published my favourite albums list last month, I got a lot of people asking, “Where’s Fleet Foxes?” as if their inclusion on any list was a given.  How could I include an album that I really had avoided listening to for most of the year?

Now I can say that I’ve listened to the full album, and I’m pleasantly surprised (although according to everyone else I shouldn’t be) at how lovely and enjoyable an experience it is.  As it stands now, it probably wouldn’t have made my list of favourites, but it certainly could give some of the albums that did a run for their money given time.

I suppose this is my make-peace post with those who’ve been championing Fleet Foxes all along (among whom I should include myself based on that April review I did) and officially join the fray.  What really won me over was listening to Marcy “Lost In Your Inbox” introduce the song “White Winter Hymnal” as the #1 track on this year’s Contrast Podcast Festive Fifty.  It’s pretty intoxicating stuff, that song.  It’s probably as close to an indie rock spiritual as anyone has ever come to creating.

MP3: Fleet Foxes “White Winter Hymnal”
Myspace: Fleet Foxes

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by J. Di Gioia | Comments Off

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.