Fleet Foxes (2008)

Fleet Foxes is the debut studio album by American band Fleet Foxes, released on June 3, 2008, by Sub Pop and Bella Union. The album garnered wide praise from critics, many of whom named it one of the best albums of the 2000s and one of the greatest debut albums of all time.

Background

Fleet Foxes was formed in Seattle, Washington in 2006 by singer-songwriters Robin Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset. Pecknold grew up in nearby Kirkland, an affluent suburb. His parents gave him an acoustic guitar in middle school. He met Skjelset in high school, bonded over music and similar Norwegian roots. In his tenth grade year, Pecknold dropped out, completing his degree at a community college and immersing himself in music. He moved into the city and secured work at a restaurant, where he joined the local outfit Dolour and befriended other accomplished musicians. Further, Pecknold gained connections through a job at a burrito restaurant, where he discovered more contemporary indie rock.

The pair first settled on the name the Pineapples, but the name was taken by a local punk act. Instead, Pecknold thought of the name Fleet Foxes, which he felt brought to mind fox hunting. The band was rounded out with Christian Wargo (bass, guitar, vocals) and Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, vocals), both members of the electronic outfit Crystal Skulls, and Nicholas Peterson (drums, vocals), formerly of Pedro the Lion. The band booked consistent local gigs and began receiving favorable write-ups in the press.

Recording

The band began recording the album in 2007, in Pecknold's parents' basement and Wescott's home. The album was produced by veteran engineer Phil Ek, best-known for his work with other Pacific Northwest luminaries, such as Built to Spill. Ek had first met Pecknold four years prior. Ek had earlier helped Fleet Foxes record their first demo and used his influence to assist in shopping it to record labels. The resulting album was recorded with Ek over the course of a year. As labels had yet to get involved with the band at this point, the recording was funded by the group themselves.

For the album, the group aimed to rework their existing sound into something more simple, emphasizing harmonies and unconventional song structures. Pecknold described the sessions as constant and exhausting, with the album going through various phases and permutations before they settled on its final state. The album was completed at one point, but was entirely revised and re-recorded. Pecknold noted that nothing could match the idea of the album he envisioned; he continued updating its song sequence and writing new pieces up until it was set to be mixed. Band members would record their parts between shifts at their jobs, and they placed their guitar amplifiers in Native American tipis for aesthetics. Pecknold also suffered from sickness during the recording, which impacted his vocal takes. The album was completed in November 2007, with Pecknold again applying new vocal takes the night before its last mixing session.

Themes

The album fuses folk music, gospel, psychedelic pop, and Sacred Harp styles. Rolling Stone columnist Austin Scaggs described the album's music as dense, singling out its usage of progressive countermelodies. The album's harmonious arrangements were interpreted as lush and textured. Though the music is audibly informed by gospel traditions, Pecknold was not brought up religious. Instead, he felt the devotional aspect proved more compelling from a songwriting standpoint. Its mood evokes bucolic images, yearning for easier times; Pecknold called it "uninformed nostalgia".

The album's pastoral music is primarily acoustic in nature, and its lyrics autobiographical and philosophic—much of the topics related to Pecknold's friends and family. "Blue Ridge Mountains" was originally named after Pecknold's grandfather, Bob Valaas. To write the album, Pecknold traveled to a rural log cabin built by his grandfather in the small community of Plain, Washington. He had just returned home after a long camping trip with his brother and sister, and the sights of nature factored into his lyricism. He was open to the suggestions of his bandmates, and eager to develop songs until the unit as a whole considered it complete. Pecknold, who croons in a doleful tone throughout the work, had an aim to emphasize the vocal arrangements in the way that strings enrich classical music. He strayed from writing love songs, and struggled with anxiety and loneliness in writing the album. "White Winter Hymnal" was written about friends who abandoned Pecknold in high school. Pecknold was particularly inspired by sixties icons Bob Dylan and Brian Wilson, with more contemporary influence drawn from Joanna Newsom and Elliott Smith. In addition, Pecknold listed other mid-20th century acts like the Zombies, Steeleye Span, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young as influences.