Sold-Out Shows Continue For Fleet Foxes

By Broadside Staff Writer Marian McLaughlin

Fleet Foxes, a five-piece band from Seattle, has been non-stop touring for months. They played at a sold-out show at the Black Cat this past July that was recorded and broadcasted live by NPR, and with that exposure, plus their recent self-titled album release, they have been playing sold-out shows ever since.

The band returned to Washington D.C. Friday night, coming back through “America town” before heading overseas for more sold-out venues and festivals. A flood of fans, many sporting flannel shirts, impatiently waited for the band to begin. Frank Fairfield, the opening act, was like a character straight out of the early 1900s. Dressed in simple, yet proper attire, he plucked upon a banjo, strummed a tenor guitar, and went crazy on his fiddle. Most of the words he sang were inaudible due to his wailing style of singing, but he kept to his genuine style, impressing the crowd with his fast finger-picking and honest songwriting.

Afterwards, Fleet Foxes came on, opening with “Sun Giant,” the title track off their first EP, which is a beautiful ode to Summer and Spring, consisting solely of four-part harmonies. From there on, they transferred straight into “Sun it Rises,” building it up with droning guitar strums, ethereal keyboard lines, and a delightful melody before exploding with more powerful vocal harmonies and booming bass drum kicks.

They continued to cover many of the songs off of their self-titled album, many now favorites to their fans, such as “Ragged Wood,” an up-beat song painting wonderful pastoral pictures of love, wondering and wandering. The crowd cheered during “White Winter Hymnal,” a definite hit that grew more popular this summer when front man Robin Pecknold’s brother created a fun, yet somber animated music video for the song.

Between songs, the band made a few political jokes about the current debates. They apologized for mentioning politics so much, but could not help bringing up the topic. One of the crowd members shouted that they saw Dick Cheney this past week at a Borders store in Washington D.C., to which Joshua Tillman, the drummer, asked, “Are you sure it wasn’t the devil?” From there they joked around more, asking what section he was in, hoping perhaps that he was checking out witchcraft or self-help.

The band took a break at one point, leaving Pecknold alone to do a few acoustic songs. Some were obscure covers, whereas two of them were “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” and “Oliver James,” two solo songs on their self-titled LP. The audience grew silent as they were hypnotized by Pecknold’s lulling voice.

Although Pecknold has a lot of energy, he thrives when the whole band is together. This was shown all throughout the show, especially in epic, storytelling songs such as “Protector” or “Blue Ridge Mountains,” their final song on Friday night. Some people relate their sound to the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and the Beach Boys. Fleet Foxes draws inspiration from those artists, but they capture their own pure and original sound, sharing their love for music and their magic with anyone willing to listen.

To hear their Black Cat show from July 7, 2008, click here. To learn more about the band, visit their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes.