Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant (Bella Union)
4/5
By: Charlie Potter
This EP is perfect summer listening. It's even pretty damn good spring listening.
I think Fleet Foxes' singer is very fortunate to have an almost identical voice to the singer in My Morning Jacket. But as such, it is difficult to come up with any other comparison (although of course it should be pointed out that the true root of inspiration for both of them is Chris Isaac). It's hard to tell whether the music sounds similar as well, or whether you're just imagining the link because the singer sounds so much like the singer in My Morning Jacket. I'm fairly sure it does, you could even say that this is the summer to My Morning Jacket's epic winter, but it's not like that's a problem. It's not like anyone else sounds like My Morning Jacket. It's not like My Morning Jacket aren't brilliant.
Fleet Foxes are by no means a carbon copy of My Morning Jacket, and it does seem unfair to pigeonhole such an interesting and mature sounding band so early on. But what's a journalist gonna' do, hey? It's not always easy describing something as abstract as a group of ordered sounds. One thing that you can say is that Fleet Foxes have a much more subdued tone, a much more summer round the campfire feel. There's plenty of acoustic guitar and lots of backing vocals that give an intimacy that almost has a nostalgic quality.
Despite this intimacy, Sun Giant manages to achieve the sort of glowing other worldliness that the art work suggests. Perhaps not other worldliness, OK, but there is definitely a feeling of travelling through a distant land, some of the vocal melodies are even reminiscent of sections of Rick Wakeman's work of genius Journey to the Centre of the Earth, but don't let that put you off.
Fleet Foxes also show the sort of structural flourishes of much more accomplished song writers that so often separates the wheat from the chaff. This lot are no pop wimps, and they're not about to pander to your every expectation. The result of this is that their compositions are full and ready to be listened to again and again.
These wandering tunes are accentuated by imaginative and yet subtle arrangements. Things like mandolins to widen the sound and shakers to move it along give the EP an extra kick up the dynamic. Not only are the arrangements well thought out, but they are also perfectly executed. One has to really admire bands like Fleet Foxes who can play together without any hint of ego; you cannot make something sound this perfectly layered without enjoying listening to every other musician's parts almost as much as playing your own.
I cannot fault this as a first EP. My one hope is that the band can find a way of taking their dynamic even further, making sure they remain a cut above the rest of the bands of their ilk.
Artists in this article: Fleet Foxes
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