# The Fleet Foxes Mix Indie Pop, Acoustic, Folk and Harmonic Vocals For Entralling Sounds

- Link: https://indierockcafe.com/2008/06/the-fleet-foxes-mix-indie-pop-acoustic-folk-and-harmonic-vocals-for-entralling-sounds/
- Published: 2008-06-26T16:46:00-04:00
- Author: Max Hammer

I must admit that there are many indie artists and bands that fly under my radar
for months after they’ve received the so-called “blogger buzz”. This is no more 
so the case than with the Washington state band The Fleet Foxes.

Drawing strongly off influences from The Beach Boys, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Simon
and Garfunkel, Neil Young and The Zombies, The Fleet Foxes are one of the most exciting
new indie bands of 2008.

Fleet Foxes’ debut, self-titled album is nothing less than a masterpiece woven with
carefully-crafted songs about longing and lost love lavishly laden with pop harmonies
and melodies.

“They are, for lack of an imminently more marketable descriptor, a group trafficking
in baroque harmonic pop,” the band’s profile on Sub Pop reads, highlighting “traditions
of folk music, pop, choral music and gospel, sacred harp singing, West Coast music,
traditional music from Ireland to Japan, film scores.”

Heather Phares wrote in the All Music Guide: “[Fleet Foxes] mix and match British
and American folk and rock from the far and not too distant past that makes the 
band’s music so refreshing.

While this mix could be contrived or indulgent, Fleet Foxes use restraint, structuring
their flourishes into three- and four-minute pop songs full of chiming melodies 
and harmonies that sound like they’ve been summoned from centuries of traditional
songs and are full of vivid, universal imagery: mountains, birds, family, death.“

The band comprises Skyler Skjelset on guitar, Bryn Lumsden on bass, Nicholas Peterson
on drums, and Casey Wescott on keyboards. Following some solid shows in Seattle,
the band was was contacted by producer Phil Ek, who produced The Shins and Built
to Spill.

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Ek produced the bands spring 2008 EP release, Sun Giant, and the band’s debut full-
length album for Sub Pop Records.

**MP3:** “White Winter Hymna” by The Fleet Foxes off the self-titled album on Sub
Pop Records, released in June 2008.

Sub Pop also has in its lineup of artists many great indie bands and artists like
Grand Archives, Iron & Wine, Foals, The Go! Team, Bands of Horses, The Postal Service,
Sleater-Kinney, CSS, Mudhoney, The Rapture, Wolf Parade, Low, Rogue Wave and dozens
more.

Seattle is etched in rock history as the birthplace of alternative rock, most especially
in respect to “grunge” – a musical genre that captivated a generation for half of
a decade thanks in large part to the explosive success of Nirvana.

For the baby boom generation, The Beatles were band that defined a generation. For
the mislabeled “Generation X” there is no other band that can compare to the enormous
influence and success of The Beatles except for Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.

But in recent years, the caffeinated city of Seattle, has been the breeding ground
for new, more mellow indie rock and pop that draws heavily off musical trends established
during the baby boomers heydays. The Fleet Foxes definitely appeal to a wide audience
because of their amazing range in styles and sounds and introspective lyrics.

Upcoming Fleet Foxes shows from their 2008 concert tour:

Thursday, June 26 – Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco CA
Friday, June 27 – Casbah,
San Diego CASaturday, June 28 – Echo, Los Angeles CASunday, June 29 – Spaceland,
Los Angeles CAMonday, June 30 – Solar Culture, Tucson AZWednesday, July 2 – Mohawk,
Austin TXThursday, July 3 – Loft, Dallas TXSaturday, July 5 – Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta
GASunday, July 6 – Local 506, Chapel Hill NCMonday, July 7 – Black Cat, Washington
DCTuesday, July 8 – First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia PAWednesday, July 9 – Bowery
Ballroom, The, New York City NYMonday, July 14 – Middle East, Cambridge MA upstairsTuesday,
July 15 – Le Divan Orange, Montreal CanadaFriday, July 18 – Terrace, Madison WISaturday,
July 19 – Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago ILSunday, July 20 – 7th St Entry, Minneapolis
MNTuesday, July 22 – Hi-Dive, Denver COWednesday, July 23 – Kilby Court, Salt Lake
City UTFriday, July 25 – Doug Fir Lounge, Portland OR

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Blitzen Trapper, Wavves, Menomena

View the [MySpace page ](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/fleetfoxes)
for The Fleet Foxes and listen to their[ studio session ](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/story.php?storyId=91310645)
on National Public Radio.

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