Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (Bella Union)
4/5
Seattle’s folk kings Fleet Foxes prepare for the release of their recently announced second album with a free download of new single and title track ‘Helplessness Blues’.
With their self titled first album receiving critical acclaim across the board, the band have already been quoted on what we can expect from its follow up. Fans will be pleased to hear that the trademark acoustic guitars and the beautiful five part harmonies that set them apart from the indie throng remain in force, and once again the band have aligned themselves with Phil Ek who produced the first album.
Yet we are however told to expect the album to be less “poppy”, perhaps taking steps away from their previous pastoral, positive vibes. Again though, the album cover’s going to be a talking point – the latest piece (pictured here) is a painting by contemporary artists Toby Liebowitz and Chris Alderson.
‘Helplessness Blues’ is the perfect first single, helping us re-jig memories of why we fell in love with this band in 2008. It starts off with their trademark gentle acoustic guitars as the soft vocal talents of Robin Pecknold slowly greet us in to the song only to be blown away by the five piece strong vocal talents within the group as we join them on their lovesick journey through being “tongue tied” and “singing the helplessness blues” in the hope that “I’ll get back to you someday”. It then breaks down into two sections, the first all energy and excitement, the second half taking a stripped down approach with a flourish of echoed choruses from the band.
Artists in this article: Fleet Foxes
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