Fleet Foxes Sing the Blues

Sean Pecknold/Sub Pop

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


There’s a moment towards the end of Fleet Foxes’ new album Helplessness Blues, during the song “The Shrine/An Argument,” where front man Robin Pecknold’s voice cracks in desperation. The fissure may be the emotional nadir of the record’s narrative, but it sends ripples down my spine—it’s probably been the highlight of my listening experience lately. For the first time, Pecknold dares to waver from his flawless vocal prowess, hinting at a darkness his listeners have rarely experienced from the angelic singer.

Helplessness Blues is not a huge departure from Fleet Foxes, the band’s first CD, but it possesses more moments of frustration and despair. By allowing these feelings to creep in, Fleet Foxes have created a more complicated and ambitious repertoire, strengthening their overall reach.

The band played all 20 songs from its cache at Oakland’s Fox Theatre last Thursday night. Though Fleet Foxes’ romantically ragged appearances and pastoral lyrics make them better suited to perform in a redwood grove than an indoor venue, the Fox’s vacuous depths and grand splendor allowed for rich listening. The place was packed, hundreds of bearded, plaid-clad fans huddled around the railings, waiting for a bit of magic. Massive gold statues of seated Aztec Gods lorded over the crowd. Lights dimmed and the world went violet. Fleet Foxes took the stage and played a seamless set, blending flutes, mandolins, guitars, and keys and highlighting their most precious entity: six wonderful voices. 

In their earlier album, most songs showcased these voices woven together into precise harmonies. Stories of revelry characterize this album for me; in “White Winter Hymnal,” for instance, the scene takes the form of a fairytale: “And scarves of red tied round their throats, to keep their little heads, from fallin in the snow, and I turn round and there you go.” Innocence sparkles the narrative.

Helplessness Blues maintains those immaculate harmonies, but Pecknold’s bare solo voice shows through more frequently. The pureness of earlier work has been pierced, leaving a narrator who is more vulnerable, betrayed, or, as the title suggests, helpless. In “The Shrine/An Argument,” the narrator mourns the loss of a lover: “In the driveway pulling away putting on your coat / In the ocean washing off my name from your throat.” Towards the end of the tune, an angsty bass clarinet* goes wild during a captivating improvisation. 

It’s hard not to associate this with Pecknold’s autobiography; his romantic relationship unraveled as the album came to fruition. It’s also been widely reported that the band had trouble mixing the CD, and they rerecorded most of the songs at one point. But if they struggled while casting the album, maybe it turned out for the best in the end. In Helplessness Blues, they embark on a dreamy, distraught adventure, one mired by shadows where once all was light. The contrast allows for a more fleshed-out live performance—with more instrumental variety and still plenty of room for pitch-perfect vocal tapestries.

*An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the instrument was a saxophone.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate