There have been a lot of great albums this year, but nothing has grown on me the way the Fleet Foxes have. I didn't love their album immediately; now I think it is the best band debut record since the Arcade Fire four years ago. Just listen to "Ragged Wood" and "Your Protector" a few times and tell me if you agree.
Since this album has me wanting every available track by this band, I picked up their Sun Giant EP this weekend. I am now convinced that if you own one of their discs, you won't be able to stop yourself from getting the other. This one loads the soft folk songs at the beginning: "Sun Giant" and "Drops In The River" are gorgeous ballads with almost no rhythm. "English House" could pass as the acoustic side of Led Zeppelin, with building voices filling in the void when the guitar rhythm drops out. Already, this band sounds like no other band alive in 2008.
"Mykonos" might be their best moment so far. Even if you don't know the words, everybody can hum along to the dark, haunting background vocals. Actually, I think that's true of all of their songs.
The bottom line: this is the most exciting new American band I've heard in a long time. Indie rock is known for lyrics, rhythm, and random instrumentation, but how often is it known for harmony and vocal talent? Finally.
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2 comments:
I love this CD! I agree that it took a little time for me to love it. The song I can't stop listening to right now is "White Winter Hymnal".
I think that the comparison to Arcade Fire is apt, because it's the first album I've heard since Funeral that has a similar transcendent, mystical quality, as if all of the songs take place in a parallel universe where I want to be. It's kind of epic, in its own quiet way.
I'm telling you, the Sun Giant Ep is every bit as good as the album. That's five dollars well spent on iTunes. Ahhh.
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