By Kirsten Hammermeister
May 3rd, 2011, 5 years after their self-titled debut, Fleet Foxes come back onto the scene
with their sophomore album Helplessness Blues. But besides the title track, have you revisited this LP recently? Perhaps its 14 year anniversary could be a good excuse to rekindle your memory of this fan favourite of the indie-folk genre.
In the lull of a half-decade between the band’s first and second album, we might question if this gap in time served as a kind of resting period to reflect and look inward. In a sense, the music in Blues does impart this message but it was also because frontman Robin Pecknold was not happy with the first mix of the album. In an interview with Uncut, Pecknold describes how the music reflected where Foxes were and not where they wanted to be. Pecknold felt that the music Foxes produced had to be right. He said, “There was absolutely no chance I was going to ever put out something that I wasn't totally convinced was as good as it could possibly be. I didn't care how many times we had to re-record stuff." Here we understand the development from the sounds of debut into Helplessness Blues, is a process that would come to define the band’s musical journey – each album a taking chance to experiment and build upon the musical story of Fleet Foxes.
Blues takes note from debut, with a very strong sense of cohesion over the course of the 12- track LP. But Blues builds upon its predecessor and brings forward a new sound of melancholy to carry the weight of its matured and more personal lyricism. The motif of nature was key to Foxes’ sound at its formation, but Blues begins to punctuate the scenes of orchards and mountains with lyrics that bring Pecknold to the surface. Existential questioning underpinned both debut and Blues but in different ways. Debut evokes a sense of not knowing the self within, and thus separated from, the world. Blues, because of its shift towards more personal lyrics, recognises the self in the world as a discordant experience.
A stronger, fuller sound in Blues was the necessary accompaniment to the band’s lyrical revisions and does well to highlight the band’s technical ability. I personally love how harmony took on a new life in Blues. The debut harmonies were choral and expanded the atmosphere of entire tracks. Blues purposes harmony as complementary to Pecknold’s clear and bright timbre and affects cohesion as it is blends perfectly with the more personal lyricism of the LP. Blues layers old sounds with new, letting listeners get acquainted with the experimental elements of its tracklist while recalling the nostalgia of their previous work.
But just how much did we love Blues 14 years ago? A lot. Truly, Foxes’ sophomore effort proved to be resistant to the dreaded slump. Boasting an 85 Metacritic score and nominated for Best Folk Album for the Grammys, it seems Pecknold made the right choice to re-record. But to the Foxes fan, too, Blues is consistently regarded as band at its finest. Its reception and resonance with audiences, would then see sonic experimentation as essential to the band’s identity thereafter. It has been 14 years since Blues was released and Foxes have released two more LP’s Crack-Up (2017) and Shore (2021). Crack-Up saw the band lean into unusual song structures, aiming to be more complex and layered than Blues. Shore was an experiment in creating expansive soundscapes. Both albums fit together well in timeline of Foxes’ discography. From debut to Shore, Foxes have put their ambition on display and we can’t help but admire their enduring commitment to exploring the ranges of their sound. Their passion is as infectious as their music, it is that no wonder we continue to return to Foxes over and over again.
Helplessness Blues was more than deserving of the praise received at its time and promises
the peak of Fleet Foxes artistic achievement, but you don’t have to my word for it. Whether you’re a first-time listener or a returning fan, all you need is a spare 49 minutes to experience a musical journey that speaks to our shared personal crises and warms our hearts and minds. Fleet Foxes’ command over genre irrefutably places Helplessness Blues high on the list of the best modern folk albums.