So, Fleet Foxes...

guitarist and fleet foxes kitchen sink guy skyler skjelset released another solo record today called back in heaven and it's decent modern dream pop stuff. kind of early fleet foxes musical backing with mbv style vocals. nothing life changing, but pretty as heck to be certain.

Was just wondering what rock these guys were hiding under

pecknold's been working on the next fleet foxes album all year. his instagram is pretty active with updates and teases. he was actually in europe recording when quarantine first hit and was initially told he would have to stay put, but found his way back to la, and now nyc.

the pieces of the new material he's teased have been very "orchestral" and dreamy. i'm excited for it, whenever it happens.

same. Robin's gone from overhyped (in others' opinion, not mine) to underrated genius ... in part because he doesn't work quickly and disappears for long stretches.

first two albums are all-timers.

i'm probably upthread saying the same thing a few years ago.

agreed. helplessness blues is still able to just wreck me in the right vibe. seeing that material live was unreal.

Third album is really good too, just requires some warming up.

Yeah, I'd say it's a good album after listening to it about a thousand times. I'd probably still rate it third out of their three albums so far.

agreed! (xpost)

i appreciate his efforts to try new stuff / stretch / not make the s/t over and over, etc.

not that i would reject an album full of "Third of May," of course

lol, not only did i just post that ^ *before* scrolling up and seeing this thing i posted three years ago:

i am all for Robin exploring whatever he wants to explore, but i'd be lying if i said i wouldn't play an album full of "Third of May"s over and over again until the end of time

― alpine static, Tuesday, June 13, 2017 2:01 PM (three years ago)

i also said *this* four hours ago, about something different:

i'm probably upthread saying the same thing a few years ago.

― alpine static, Friday, August 28, 2020 11:24 AM (four hours ago)

something to be said for consistency, man.

apparently fflp4 is titled shore and will be streamed in full tomorrow at fleetfoxes.co

ok, sure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

stooooooooked

WAIT pic.twitter.com/JnxD8tcoB9

— Brandon (@blgtylr) September 21, 2020

the actual cover is gorgeous. i'm too lazy to find it and post it, though.

streaming at 6:31 a.m. Pacific tomorrow, i guess to line up w/ the autumnal equinox?

i wanna get up and listen but then my wife would say "oh so you can get up early for Fleet Foxes, but not for work, to get the kids ready, to exercise, etc."

(and rightly so)

The whole thing is on Spotify now. It's really good.

Gave it a (very) distracted listen while working today and it sounded good indeed, but I'm looking forward to giving it some proper attention over the weekend (not to turn into a cliché but a long autumn walk seems like a perfect opportunity to properly enjoy it).

i don't think i've seen p4k do a tweet like this before ... although maybe there is no other example? or maybe i just missed it.

Best New Music x5

Read all the reviews here: https://t.co/zTOVfU0yMa pic.twitter.com/6c5LHOJl0K

— Pitchfork (@pitchfork) September 23, 2020

i don't disagree with the praise, but fuck narcissistic pfork assholes. yes, i'm on my high horse right now, but robin deserves a better audience than that.

who are pfork assholes?

I haven't heard anything of theirs since the first album mainly because the rave reviews all make their music sound incredibly unappealing

About a third of the new album has stood out for me so far--Crack-Up and Sun Giant are still the only two releases of theirs that I like front-to-back.

Aspects of the production and vocal performances on Crack-Up really reminded me of Phil Elverum fwiw, so it's a mildly interesting coincidence to me that Shore is out around the same time as Microphones in 2020.

Something about the drumming on this new one feels really different. Can't put my finger on why just yet. Maybe it's a rhythmic rather than a sonic thing. Like a few of the songs are more propulsive than I'm used to with FF material.

I've only really started coming round to The Crack-Up recently, always felt it was almost certainly good just a bit impenetrable.

This one is a lot more fresh faced feeling.

"I'm Not My Season" is very nice. did they always sound this much like Leonard Cohen? need to re listen to the old ones maybe.

This sounds a bit like Christian rock.

They've always given me church vibes. Maybe it's the "choral" aspect. Idk, never really bothered me honestly.

Singer’s voice is obviously really great but I also enjoy the rhythms and the band on something like “cradling mother”

Devil walk by?devil wakin by

this new one completely passed me by, don't remember a single thing about it

same...it's a lovely record, but it's like a breath of fresh air..doesn't last that long.

Hmm, the opposite for me. It felt nebulous in first listen but I find myself continuing to come back to it. I find it a very comforting album.

i really liked the crack-up, had some edges that were shorn down for this new one

I’ve been feeling the itch to return to that album, which I liked but don’t really remember aside from a few tracks. It seems to have gotten a critical reassessment already.

Still kind of baffled by the release strategy for Shore, still not out on vinyl/CD for another full month.

It’s one of those that I keep saving for the right time to play it but that time never seems to come

xp think it might be as simple as Robin wanted to released it on the autumn equinox (possibly in 2020, specifically / he has a thing with numbers, iirc) and vinyl is super delayed but he didn't want to push it back?

Sure, I know the equinox release strategy thing and production delays are surely a factor, but a six month lag seems to be on the extreme end.

yeah, i'm a little confused honestly. i got a message from the retailer telling me my pre-order (plain old black vinyl) has been delayed from mid-january to now mid-march, but i keep seeing people on instagram posting photos of their copies.

seems like it was about six months turnaround time for the latest fiona apple album from when it was on streaming to to when i could hold a copy in my hands.

it's the new model and i do not like it.

ha, yeah, not sure I like this much of a gap. No doubt COVID and weather issues all over the country won't be helping things out much on that front.

Looks like it came out in the EU/UK a few weeks ago, so maybe that's how you are seeing people with a copy? This is according to their official store for both CD and vinyl:

EU & UK Orders: February 5, 2021.
Everywhere Else: March 19, 2021.

this is nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTwhDOha4-U

Lovely new single with big red machine “Phoenix”

I was a bit late to this album, but Shore is such a pleasure to listen to.

there is zero chance that i would have said this a year ago, but "i'm not my season" has defined itself as the easy highlight of shore for me. and the album overall is a lot more substantial than i gave it credit for. i was also jamming nothing but 80s and 90s r+b at the time, perhaps an influence?

anyway yeah, solid 4.5 mics in the source in 1996. great album.

That’s my favorite track too.

I love this album.

otm

My second favorite track might be "A Long Way Past the Past".

Back to Crack-Up for the past couple of days and have just now put on Shore for the first time in several months. Crack-Up makes a lot more sense (and sounds better) in retrospect, but wow Shore really is a damn fine record. I've always understood their records to be the kind that will most likely get better with time and Shore definitely feels like another one of those. He really is mining that late 60s Capitol studio vibe for all it's worth and I absolutely love it. Not sure if I'd consider it their single best album, but it's definitely in contention.

For sure, Shore is great
I can never revisit enough

Missed this. Wish there was more with the choir. The albums have become such huge productions that I've forgotten how good of a guitarist he is. Nothing revelatory, but still quite nice.