Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues

The image of Fleet Foxes has always been that of mountain men — outcasts stuck in a woodland cabin, seemingly transported here from centuries ago. Pecknold furthers this image by covering songs like “False Knight on the Road” and “Silver Dagger”, songs that date back to the early 20th century and perhaps earlier. It is an image that has led critics to call them “timeless” and “authentic.” Pecknold’s attention to the past blends with the band’s composite sound of shapenote-inspired Appalachian harmonies, acoustic instruments mixed with sparse warm electronic sounds. And indeed, as folk revivalists, Fleet Foxes are nothing but authentic.

Helplessness Blues continues this trend. Pecknold’s lyrics make no attempt to modernize; “Bedouin Dress” makes a Yeats reference when he sings “One day at Innisfree/One day that’s mine there.” Yeats, an early 20th century Irish poet, wrote a poem called “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, describing a bucolic place of solace.

Herein lies Pecknold’s inspiration for the entire album, an unsurprising theme for someone who describes himself as suffering from “social anxiety.” Constantly, we find Pecknold continually wanting to climb back into his shell, or perhaps to his orchard, as apples are a key image in many songs on the album. “If I had an orchard, I’d work ’till I’m sore,” he repeats on the title track after expressing his wish to be no more than “a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me.”

Perhaps most telling is the memorable line in “The Shrine/An Argument”, the band’s most experimental work to date. “Sunlight over me no matter what I do,” he sings, no, screams in frustration, allowing his voice to rasp for the first time in memory. The song ends with a strange, free-jazz inspired bass clarinet solo over unconventional tremolo chord planing. Fleet Foxes use new instruments and sounds on Helplessness Blues to expand their seemingly all-encompassing American style.

Some of these new inclusions are more logical, such as the violin melody in “Bedouin Dress” or the fiery acoustic jam session ending “Sim Sala Bim”. It’s the classic sound of a band evolving into their prime, trying anything they want and making it work every time. Despite the expansion into more myriad territories, nothing on Helplessness Blues is a throwaway track; nothing lacks in quality. Helplessness Blues is, without a doubt, the best release of the band’s career.

Source: Sputnikmusic.com