FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
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EVEN though one might have to import…
IN THIS PHOTO: Fleet Foxes in 2011
a copy of Fleet Foxes second studio album, Helplessness Blues, on vinyl from the U.S., I think that it is well worth doing. I am thinking of Fleet Foxes as they released their fourth studio album, Shore, last year. The band is essentially Robin Pecknold these days, but there was a bigger band behind him for 2011’s Helplessness Blues – including Josh Tillman/Father John Misty (vocals, drum kit, percussion). I think that anyone who is unaware of the beauty of Helplessness Blues needs to get hold of it, as it received huge praise from critics. The album also contains some of Fleet Foxes’ strongest material – it also went on to be nominated for Best Folk Album for the 54th Grammy Awards; the album peaked at number-four on the Billboard 200 (the band's highest position on the chart to date). Although Tilman left Fleet Foxes in 2012 to start his solo career, I love the fact that there are quite a few musicians in the throng. With debuts from bass guitarist Christian Wargo and multi-instrumentalist Morgan Henderson, Helplessness Blues is such a sumptuous and gorgeous album! The original plans was for Pecknold to release a second album as soon as 2009 – the eponymous Fleet Foxes album arrived in 2008 -, but intense touring meant that this was not possible. Convening to record new songs in February 2009, the band got together in Seattle but, as the band members were spending a lot of their own money during these sessions, it was scrapped.
Also, Tillman was due to play a solo tour from 2009-2010, so there was disruption when it came to getting the second album organsied and down. Despite some setbacks, the record did eventually come together. Pecknold took Fleet Foxes in a less Pop direction for Helplessness Blues and, whilst this meant that it was less uplifting, I think there is more beauty and nuance to be found. Pecknold wanted something less polished and rehearsed; vocals that were laid down quick to capture something more Folk-like and raw. The band had recorded since April 2010 in different locations after two years of writing material, though they decided to scrap the earlier idea of a fast recording (according to the band, the vocal takes so far have all been done in one take - perhaps in line with the original imperfect recording idea). I want to bring in a couple of reviews before finishing things off. When they assessed the album, this is what AllMusic had to say:
“Props to Helplessness Blues for making the fretless zither cool again. On their second album, Fleet Foxes continue to take their music in unusual directions, creating a baroque folk-pop sound that hints at a number of influences -- Simon & Garfunkel, Fairport Convention, the Beach Boys -- but is too unique, too esoteric, too damn weird to warrant any direct links between the Seattle boys and their predecessors. It's still a downright gorgeous record, though, filled to the brim with glee club harmonies and the sort of stringed instruments that are virtually unknown to anyone who didn't go to music school (and even if you did, when's the last time you rocked out on the Marxophone?).
Relying on obscure instrumentation can be a dangerous game, and Fleet Foxes occasionally run the risk of sounding too clever for their own good, as if the need to "out-folk" groups like Mumford & Sons and Midlake is more important than writing memorable, articulate folk tunes. But Helplessness Blues has the necessary songs to back it up, from the slow crescendos of the album-opening "Montezuma" to the sweeping orchestral arrangement of the encore number, "Grown Ocean." Robin Pecknold remains the ringleader of this Celtic circus. His is the only voice to cut through the thick, lush harmonies that Fleet Foxes splash across every refrain like paint, and his lyrics -- rife with allusions to the Bible, Dante the Magician, and the poetry of W.B. Yeats -- reach beyond the territory he occupied on the band’s first record, which painted simple geographical portraits with songs like "Sun It Rises," "Ragged Wood," "Quiet Houses," and "Blue Ridge Mountains." On Helplessness Blues, he's just as interested in the landscape of the human heart. Still, it's the music that stands out, and the band's acoustic folk/chamber pop combo makes every song sound like a grand tribute to back-to-the-land living”.
Fleet Foxes always deliver sublime albums, and, in Robin Pecknold, they have one of the greatest songwriters and singers of our time! One cannot help but to lose themselves in the music as, even when things are more downbeat, there is still something wonderous and stunning to be found.
I want to source from Pitchfork’s review, because they make some interesting observations regarding Helplessness Blues:
“The group harmonies that flowed from Fleet Foxes are in shorter supply here, employed largely to embellish tracks, allowing Pecknold to take a clearer lead role, both vocally and lyrically. He first emerged as an impressionistic songwriter, but he's since become stronger and more descriptive, conjuring vivid imagery of men striking matches on suitcase latches and penny-laden fountains. Mostly, he spends time working out his own personal puzzles, pondering the big questions of existence and meditating on the dissolution of his five-year relationship during one of Helplessness Blues' more difficult creative periods.
The record reflects his determination to deal with the present while leaving the past behind. At times, Pecknold's voice takes an aggressive tone, as on the eight-minute breakup saga "The Shrine/An Argument"; other times, it cracks slightly, exposing his pain on the bittersweet "Lorelai". But the warmth is there. On the album's most intimate track, "Someone You'd Admire", he contemplates the contradictory impulses to love and to destroy, accompanied by spare harmony and softly strummed guitar.
Pecknold confronts more universal concerns as well, starting with "Montezuma"'s memorable album-opening lines: "So now, I am older/ Than my mother and father/ When they had their daughter/ Now, what does that say about me?" He wrestles throughout the record with his own measurements of success, and whether any of it adds up to anything. He asks questions only to come up with more questions, and they all lead into a sort of resolution on the album's title track, "Helplessness Blues". Here, he retreats from the world into idyllic, pastoral imagery and wishes for a simpler life before trying to come to grips with his newfound renown. "Someday I'll be like the man on the screen," he promises at the end of the song.
Helplessness Blues' analytical and inquisitive nature never tips into self-indulgence. Amidst the chaos, the record showcases the band's expanded range and successful risk-taking, while retaining what so many people fell in love with about the group in the first place. And once again, a strong sense of empathy is at the heart of what makes Fleet Foxes special. Much has been made of American indie's recent obsession with nostalgic escapism, but Robin Pecknold doesn't retreat. He confronts uncertainty while feeling out his own place in the world, which is something a lot of us can relate to”.
If you do not own a copy of Helplessness Blues, I would definitely recommend people to do so as it is a wonderful listening experience – you can always stream it if you do not get it on vinyl. I have so much love and respect for…
ONE of the best albums of 2011.