The Top 30 Albums of 2008: # 8

Fleet Foxes
Sun Giant

Well, if you were looking to find a band that got hit by massive hype, but still managed to maintain public goodwill upon the release of their album--as opposed to the way things went for Black Kids and everybody else who tried to sound like the new Belle & Sebastian--it's the Fleet's you look to.  Formed only a few years ago and barely acknowledged until the beginning of this year, wherein they proceeded to win over absolutely every music publication they ran into, from Rolling Stone to Pitchfork (and quite a few websites and magazines in between), pretty much the entirety of the European music press (excepting those who still give a shit about whatever Bloc Party is doing), and even earning a breathy, over the top proclamation form the fucking Guardian, who described the Foxes self-titled debut as "a landmark in American music, an instant classic."  Here's the scoop.  That album?  Not bad.  Decent, even.  Hell, it's good.  Pick it up, put it on, learn the words, try and hit those notes.

But you don't really need to.

Everything about the Fleet Foxes that they get right--which is quite a decent share, as they're tremendously gifted musicians--is easily available on the five song Sun Giant EP, and it's there with complete, naked purity.  From the opening a capella that clues you on the type of experience you're in for to the American Idol level vocal gymnastics they populate "Mykonos" with, from the gutpunch reminder that harmony will still break your spine when it's done right, from the celebration--unashamed and blatantly excited--of the decades old sound of a band like Crosby, Stills & Nash, Sun Giant covers everything that made the world's music critics and a quarter of a million Myspace friends freak the hell out back when these guys showed up at South by Southwest.  They started off the year as the back-up band for Blitzen Trappen, and they've ended it with their name plastered on every single music magazine that doesn't limit itself to rap or heavy metal coverage.  Yet--and this is in part why you don't see their full-length being here while it's the talk of the town everywhere else--they've remained essentially the same band that charmed its way into a Sub Pop contract eleven months ago.  Every photo you see of them, whether it's a live shot from a show, a make-up covered take in a studio or one coming from an iPhone, is exactly the same.  A bunch of happy looking dudes in need of some barbering, smiling so hard they're on the way to a shattered jaw.  The Fleet Foxes kept doing exactly what they'd been doing, and the world woke up and started loving them right back for it--they were a bunch of guys who liked to sing with each other (it didn't matter about what, as their treacly let's-all-get-back-to-camping and looking-at-trees-and-shit lyrics testify), they liked to play songs that sound like a 70's back room revival of an old 60's hippie freakout, and they liked to cut the tracks before they got to noodling.  If there was a Maslow Heirarchy of Innovation, these guys would be the one's messing with bongos outside--little of what they do is going to be called "different."  The thing is, with these guys, that's just fine.  It's doubtful that the Fleet Foxes could, or should even try, to go in a different direction, especially this early in their career, especially when they probably wouldn't want to, especially when there's nothing wrong with shooting to be a 2008 harmonizing hippie rock band.  Hell, we've got enough people trying to be the next Jay-Z, U2 or, for whatever Satanic reason, the next Norah Jones.  At least the Foxes have the chops to pull off taking over where the 60's left off.  (Just as long as that doesn't become a trend.  Hippies are pretty disgusting.)

-Tucker Stone, 2008

Comments

[Chris Rice]

You may have actually heard the new Bloc Party album and dismissed it, in which case, Fuck Me, but if you're going off the first two albums, you might be surprised by the new album. They've changed their sound a little, and imo, their a far more interesting band now.
Have a look at the video for Mercury, which, if nothing else, has Apemen in it...
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WYdyExUfIbI

[Chris Rice]

Ah shit, I fell into one of my most hated grammar traps... of course I meant, "they're a far more interesting band now."
Sorry.