Fleet Foxes–Sun Giant EP and s/t LP and…in Dallas
Fleet Foxes will be in Dallas on the third, and this is a show I can’t miss. The buzz about this group is pretty monumental, but I’d say they live up to it. While they do not fall into a clear natural kind of music, they are not without influences and resemblances. On their “Sun Giant” EP, for example, there are times when early seventies bands like America are clearly in the background, and other times when Crosby, Stills and Nash appear to have come together to lay a track down at Sub Pop. (See, for example, Mykonos, posted below.) On the more recent self-titled LP, with its strikingly appropriate Bruegel cover, fans of My Morning Jacket will be pleased, as will those who would prefer that the aforementioned Kentuckians would be a tad less jammy.
The most striking feature of the Foxes is their layers of vocals, at times choir-like, while at other times a little more Wilson-like. I’ll be very interested to see how it goes live, since I’m pretty sure this is one guy multi-tracked. In the end, though, I’ll bet I prefer the live version to the albums because my one complaint about them is in their recording. (What’s more, on the few tracks that are less produced, the singer sounds completely angelic.) On my first few listens, I felt like the sound lacked crispness and I was frustrated that perhaps my car stereo was to blame. Torin Alter, though, pointed out the real problem: too much reverb! Perhaps this was done to paste over some of the seams in the track integration, but for my money I’d go with a more natural sound.
That being said, this is a clear purchase, and my understanding is that the gatefold LP is gorgeous and comes with a code for free downloads of the album. I’ll probably sell my cd to buy that.
These guys will be at The Loft on Wednesday.