Tunesday 1: Fleet Foxes

It's time to talk about music, and since several of my friends have asked me about music to which I am listening, I thought I'd just start a feature on my blog. So here's episode number one of Tunesday!

Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes and Sun Giant

I have recently discovered the band Fleet Foxes, which I also hear is going to be on SNL on Jan. 17.

Coming out of Seattle, this five-man group produces an intelligent, intricate folk-pop with undercurrents of baroque styling.

Who are they like? Lead singer Robin Pecknold's voice is reminiscent of Jim James of My Morning Jacket and James Mercer of the Shins. In fact, I find the Shins' songcraft very similar in many respects, although with more of a rock/electrified feel. Both bands are also deserving of far more attention than they have thus far received.

I currently own the EP Sun Giant, from 2008, and the full length eponymous album, also from 2008. The album is not to be confused with an EP from 2006, also named Fleet Foxes. Apparently, these guys channel so much thought into the lyrics of their songs that they ran out of words when it came to the titles of their releases. But no matter.

Favorite songs are: "Mykonos," from the EP, and "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" and "White Winter Hymnal" from the full length album. "White Winter Hymnal" is an amazing little gem, telling the story of a school field trip as well as the universe of detail within a castaway memory:

I was following the pack
all swallowed in their coats
with scarves of red tied ’round their throats
to keep their little heads
from fallin’ in the snow
And I turned ’round and there you go
And, Michael, you would fall
and turn the white snow red as strawberries
in the summertime....

That's the entire lyric, and the song is rounded off in less than two and a half minutes. And here is the amazing video, which adds an entire new dimension to the song:


If you haven't heard these guys before, give them a listen!