Fleet Foxes: An Anticipatory Retrospective

posted by Ariana on October 23, 2010

The Fleet Foxes have kept us waiting for a new album for quite a long time. Collectively we’ve already gone through every stage of longing and now we’re into the territory of “this is unbearable just let me die already.” OK, maybe it’s not gotten to that extent yet, but after taunting us with Facebook posts affirming the existence of a new album in the as-yet-unidentified future, and the surfacing of YouTube videos with titles like “Robin Pecknold New Song!” and a very mysterious Facebook picture, it’s getting impossible to wait. It’s the epitome of dangling a carrot in front of the donkey. So, in an effort to quell at the very least my own inability to keep it in my pants, I present to you an incomplete but telling retrospective of four songs and several links to videos that I find riveting. Note my avoidance of the LP because, ideally, everyone should have that already. Here are some songs you may not know.

Myspace || Official site

2006 – Fleet Foxes EP – I believe this is part of that set of songs which generated a most amusing comment from some anonymous producer or talent scout: “They’ve got talent coming out of their asses.”

2008 – Sun Giant EP – I would like to call attention to this under-appreciated gem from the EP that we have all come to know and love for Mykonos.

2008 – a b-side to White Winter Hymnal – This particularly luminous track is just dripping with more of what First Aid Kid used as fodder for their own fame, namely, that Tiger Mountain Peasant Song goodness which involves just Robin and his guitar.

2009 – live radio session – Both lyrically and musically, a pondering song.

» To download, right-click title & “save as”

VIDEOS

Untitled – Added 2010 – I have no words, but you should listen to the words.

Lorelai – Added 2009 – “Lorelai” is rumored to be on the upcoming album. Twelve string. Twelve. String.

Bedouin Dress – Added 2009 – “Bedouin Dress” also rumored for inclusion, but it’s not my favorite.

And finally, that arresting cover of Tiger Mountain Peasant Song that made it onto the Fleet Foxes’ MySpace in 2008, by Swedish sisters First Aid Kit. I think it embodies everything that that LP is about: forests, flannel, and folk to be interpreted and reinterpreted by generations to come. Oh, did I mention that Robin Pecknold is all of 24 years old?

» Love/Like/Hate it? Please rate it.

» Meaningless labels: Fleet Foxes • Folk • Male vocal • Pecknold • Tillman