Fleet Foxes -Helplessness Blues

Wed 4th May, 2011 in Music Reviews

Since their acclaimed, self-titled 2008 debut, Seattle folk sextet Fleet Foxes have made an entire album, scrapped it and re-recorded it. It’s only now, three years on, they finally release the much anticipated follow-up Helplessness Blues.

“So now I am older”, the opening lyrics, a perfect caption for this album, which steps up from the forest floor sounds of its predecessor in search of softer, broader, and at times, more psychedelic forms of folk. Frontman Robin Pecknold became so consumed by the album, and his vision of perfection, that it ultimately cost him his relationship with his long-time girlfriend, however upon her first listens of Helplessness Blues, she agreed his efforts were necessary and has since started to rekindle their relationship. Yes, it really is that good.

Montezuma shows the bands decision to build upon their first album, as opposed to reinvent it. This sweeping slice of Appalachia is soaked in hallowing harmonies and Pecknold’s high-soaring, rustic vocals, beauty from the get-go. Bedouin Dress takes step towards the broader sound palette of Helplessness Blues, with its soft-stroked mandolin leading into the brilliant Arabic-styled violin part, which seems fit to charm listeners, as well as snakes. In comparison to the debut, nothing seems as instantly accessible on this record; that is to say, don’t expect a White Winter Hymnal, or a Ragged Wood. It’s the understated beauty of Helplessness Blues that is its strength, and on the whole, it’s better than the 2008 effort, which is no easy feat.

The mystical Sim Sala Bim, sweeps in unnoticed while Pecknold sweetly muses, before the song drives of into heavier sonic forms, with its crashing percussion and heavy strumming replicating sounds of distant ages. The grander Battery Kinzie follows, more upbeat melodically than anything previous to it, but lyrics like “I woke up one morning, all my fingers rotting” give a sullen look into Pecknold’s psyche and his obsession of the record itself.

Title track Helplessness Blues, shows influences of Simon & Garfunkel, and is one of the albums most transcendent tracks yet. Its wonderfully crafted lyrics such as “I was raised up believing I was somehow unique/Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see/And now after some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be/A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me” perhaps allude to the tracks of the album aligning to create a bigger picture, as well as Pecknold himself coming to terms with his place in the universe.

The sweet Lorelai, with its poppy plucking guitar and twinkling glockenspiel, amongst the other instruments, show Fleet Foxes’ melodic tapestry at its best. However its feel of big, intricate production do not take away from the band’s traditional around-the-campfire bravado. The Shrine/ An Argument is an eight-minute epic, with Pecknold breaking out of his traditional folky high notes for climatic pain-soaked cries of “sunlight over me no matter” sure to raise the hairs on the backs of necks, and send chills down the spines of many. The slow progression reaches the album’s darkest and most volatile point in the form of a free for all woodwind jazz jam.

In comparison Blue Spotted Tail is a whisper. The most fragile song on the album, and certainly another one from Paul Simon’s songbook, one that recites the futility of life, it’s a moment of simple beauty, poignant, melancholic, but endearing. Fleet Foxes finish off in grand style with Grown Ocean, bringing back the layers of production in this glorious send off, depicting the bands full robustness, before ending on an beautifully affirming harmonized coda of just voices and nothing else.