Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Release Date: 06/03/08
Genre: Baroque pop

I gave them a listen because the album wasn't suppose to be release until 2 months from now. So I'm thinking, how did it get leaked? I enjoyed their EP sightly more because it was shorter, but the full length album is warming up to me.

Review: It's a soft album. During my first listens, I could only feel the campfire burning in the songs and I liked that. I wasn't sure if it would grow on me, but it eventually did. "White Winter Hymnal" vocals are so classic and the melody feels so simply, it's like summer camp. Then "Ragged Woods" feels the same, but it races towards something that I can't make out, but I love following it to the end. I feel it within me during the change up and the second half of the song building up to the "call me back to you" and that simple guitar rhythm.

There's an overall layer of lo-finess and I liked that it is because the vocals match the instrument almost perfectly, it's hard to be turned off by either if you enjoy one of them. That's really all there is to the album. It'll alternative between completely solo-like songs to full band songs.
"Your Protector" is the best song on the album.

Summary: There's a rich warmth texture in all of the songs that makes me feel love, even though the album isn't much of a love story. It's a bit different from what I expect in music these days. I sometimes get peeved when bands try to sing acapella so their vocals have to be really great to pull it off and the vocals here aren't that amazing, but it's the way it's treated between the notes that make them wonderful. I love the added background vocals that give the vocals a solid sound. My only complain is that some songs are just good and nothing more than that.

Key Tracks: Ragged Woods, He Doesn't Know Why, Your Protector
Rating: 8/10